The Lost Ring
by luvliX3
Summary: There were actually eight Vongola Rings, but the eighth was lost. The last ring belonged to the Snow Guardian, the icy blanket that hides the Family's tracks. -Characters: Mainly the immediate Vongola Family and my OC-
1. Chapter One: Yuki no Shugosha

_Yoi! Saku again, desu! How is everyone?_

_Well, I've actually had this idea for the longest time, but I didn't decide to write about it up until now! XD_

_It's just a little [biggish] something, I guess. (The Snow Guardian is my OC I made up)_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyou Hitman Reborn, Akira Amano does. If I owned this, I wouldn't be writing fanfics, I'd be making the real deal._

* * *

_**Yuki no Shugosha**_

"_You have all been named the seven guardians of the Vongola Family. As the Storm, Rain, Sun, Cloud, Mist, Thunder, and Snow you will protect the Sky and follow his orders without hesitation. Do you understand?"_

_The newly appointed guardians replied with a "Yes, sir", some more enthusiastic than others._

"_Riccardo, you don't need to make is sound like they're being forced into submission," a blond-haired man laughed from a leather chair. He stood up, his blue eyes—despite being an icy pigment—reflected the gentle and genuine smile on his lips. "Even if you hadn't told them to do all of that, they would know what to do, after all, they're all my friends."_

_Riccardo glanced over his shoulder at the lined up guardians, giving them a warning glance that said: Don't mess up._

"_I understand, Boss," the black-haired man replied. He wandered towards the oak doors that connected the office and the hallway. "I'll see you later."_

_The door slammed shut and everyone was silent until the blond-haired man started to laugh again. "Come on, everyone! Liven up a bit! It's not like I'm going to kill you."_

"_I don't see what's so funny, Boss," said the only woman of the lined up candidates._

"_Hey, I told you, when it's just us, you don't need to call me 'Boss', just call me by my name that you usually do, okay?"_

_The woman blushed, "F-Fine, whatever you say, B-Bo…Giotto…"_

_Giotto patted her head, "That's good, Y—"_

* * *

_It's cold…Where?_

Eyes, one white as snow, slowly opened and glanced from side to side, stopping when an encasing ice entered their field of vision. Other than the line of light that shone dimly over the eyes, it was dark. "This is…" the voice that came out was cracked and dry as if it hadn't been used for centuries. The eyes closed again, unable to do anything else and the body too numb to feel anything.

"_Don't fall asleep here, you'll freeze!"_

The lids that covered the eyes shot open. In front of them was a black floor and a cold metal door of steel. The eyes flickered from side to side, noting that the body's arms were no longer covered in ice, as was the rest of the body.

"_Put on a jacket or something, that'll warm you up!"_

"A…jacket…" the voice came out dry, but not as hoarse. Hands planted firmly on the floor and pushed bent arms straight. Now a handle could be seen; one hand grabbed onto a rail protruding from the wall and then the legs were near straight. One foot took a step forward, if the hand had let go of the rail, the whole body would have collapsed to the floor instead of just a knee.

With another willful push, the body was back on its feet and on its way to the handle. A simple push on the frosted metal opened the door too well. The hinges snapped and the thick steel board fell onto white linoleum.

"Hey, who are you and why are you—"

Long black hair flipped, head turned, eyes glared at what spoke. "You…give me your jacket…"

"S-Secur—" Before the man could finish what he was saying, he was on the ground, unconscious. Seconds later, he was stripped of his white jacket and dragged into the empty room. Hands lifted the steel door and shakily forced it back into position. _Click!_

"Now…to find a way out…"

Legs, now used to walking, walked through the hallways slowly, stopping only once to hear a conversation between two white-coated men, whispering to each other.

"Really? I heard…Vongola's…boss…Japan."

Eyes widened and fingers clutched onto the back of the white coats' collars. "You said Vongola's boss was in Japan, right?"

"Y-Yes, is there something wrong, Miss…?" one of them answered. Without listening to anymore, she forced their heads together and let them fall to the floor, also unconscious. In the hands of one of the white coats was a shining black gun. Without hesitation, she took the gun and searched for an extra cartridge in the coat pocket. She removed the safety lock and headed down the hall until she reached a room next to a staircase leading to the roof.

She barged into the room gun pointed at the occupant. "Can you get me to Japan?" she growled.

"I-I can, so please, put the gun down!"

The woman ignored him and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him up the staircase.

Waiting on the open-aired platform sat a giant helicopter. On the side of the copter was a large emblem of a curled up dragon.

"Will this thing get me to Vongola's Boss?"

"Yes, it will," the man replied, stepping into the pilot's seat, "now, can you please lower the gun?"

* * *

"W-We're almost here, ma'am," the pilot smiled nervously. The gun was no longer pointed at him and was in the stolen coat's pocket, but he was still very much intimidated by her presence.

The helicopter hovered over a medium-large sized white building with a front yard that could just barely fit the machine's shape. Gradually, the copter lowered onto the open space, whirling up a smoke screen of dust and dirt with its blades.

* * *

A student dressed in a white, collared button-up T sat up from his position on the green-black leather couch. His normally flat black hair was slightly messy and there was a look of complete irritation on his face. The student swung his feet over the edge of the sofa with one graceful swoop and walked over to the window, opening a crack in the blinds just enough to see what had disturbed his nap. On the other side of the glass was a large cloud of dust and a faint outline of what he identified to be a helicopter.

He glared at the machinery and grabbed two steel tonfa off his desk and the black stiff collar jacket off the backrest of the leather couch. The small fluffy yellow that had been lying on the jacket instantly awoken at the feel of the quick tug and sprouted a pair of small wings. It perched on a shoulder, which was covered loosely with a black coat that had a red prefect's badge pinned onto one arm.

Without paying the bird any mind, he slid the door open and closed it back into place more forceful then he intended. The hallways, which were starting to be infested by students was cleared as he walked through. Some, who had believed they caught the weapon-wielding student's gaze, scampered back into a door right after he passed by.

In the mind of this feared student, his attention only remained focus on one thing: the helicopter that disturbed his peace and the school's order.

* * *

"W-Whoa! There's a helicopter outside!" A second-year student exclaimed, standing from his seat and looking out the window. The teacher's lecture stopped as all students rushed over to the window.

A silver-haired student, who had transferred into the school about a year earlier, analyzes the chopper and notices an insignia on the side: a curled up Western dragon. His green eyes widen then narrow into slits. He grabs two people by the shoulder: one tanned and tall, the other short and thin.

"Tenth, that helicopter is owned by a dangerous facility in Italy. It was built by the last remnant from the people that tested on the Kokuyo Group," he murmured to the two.

The shortest of the three furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Eh?" he whispered, only slightly softer than the crowding students. "How can that be? I thought Mukuro killed all of them years ago!"

The silver-haired student shook his head, "One of the scientists was on a vacation to the Arctic. Tenth, what are we going to do—"

"Look! Look! There's a lady coming out of the helicopter!"

The exclamation caused heads to turn and the three that had detached from the group joined the mob again, seeing who came out. She was dressed in a long white lab coat and had long, smooth black hair. Her hands were in her pocket.

"Tenth, she's armed…"

The color from the brown-haired boy's already pale face drained even further. Then he shook his head, regaining his grip on reality. "T-Then we need to stop her!"

"Tsuna, how are we going to do it without any weapons?" the tallest asked.

He averted his gaze to the window. "We have to do something to make sure no one at school gets hurt."

"Silly Tsuna, didn't I tell you before? Don't try to act so much like a hero, you'll get nervous."

Tsuna turned behind him, coming face-to-face with his home tutor: a baby. "R-Reborn, what—"

"What are you still doing here? Shouldn't you be going down to greet your new opponent?" he questioned, cutting him off.

The brown-haired boy pursed his lips then after a quick nod, started running out the classroom, followed by Yamamoto and Gokudera. A girl near the back of the mob that saw the three leave looked at her friend next to her, who was staring at the helicopter with boredom all over her face, before trailing silently after the three.

* * *

The trio arrived at the scene, panting for air. As they came, so did the president of the disciplinary committee. When he appeared, the crowd that had formed from the class in PE ran back to the field on the other side of the school. The prefect stepped out into the open and glared up at the students. "Continue learning and close the blinds," he ordered. All the students did as they were told. It was only until after the all the windows were covered totally and completely that he looked at the woman in the white lab coat.

"Who are you to come here and disturb the order of this school?" he questioned. His tonfa were positioned in front of him and he changed into his battle stance. "If I don't like your answer, I'll bite you to death."

The woman's eyes widened and after a few seconds, reverted to their original size. "So you were here the whole time and didn't even bother coming into contact with me, _Guardiano di Nuvole_? You have some nerve…" She took out her gun, aiming it at the head prefect.

"I don't know what kind of nonsense you're spouting, but I do know that I don't like your answer. And guns are prohibited on school grounds!" The head prefect charged toward the gun-wielder.

"It's time for you to stop being useless, Tsuna," Reborn said as he slid two white mittens onto the amber-eyed boy's hands.

"Eh? Reborn! Since when did you have—"

"No time for questions. Now, fight!" The hitman home tutor took a chameleon from the brim of his fedora, which then turned into a gun, and shot the student.

A flash of bright orange zoomed between the charging disciplinary student and the woman in the white lab coat. One gloved hand blocked Hibari's incoming, swiping tonfa and the other iced the opening of the gun, frosting the metal and the bullet inside. The woman's eyes widened at the sight of the ice crawling over her gun.

_Primo._

"Move out of the way, Herbivore," Hibari growled.

Tsuna stared at Hibari, unfazed by the order. "Wouldn't causing more disorder only worsen the situation?"

The black-haired student lowered his arms and turned away without a word. As Tsuna's Cloud Guardian left, he turned to face the woman, flame burning out as he did so.

"I'm sorry about your gun," he apologized, "But I didn't want—"

"What happened to you? Why do you look so young again?" the woman interrupted, grabbing him tightly at the shoulders. Tsuna could only look at her with deep confusion, which was expressed by silence. "Why are you in Japan? Why didn't you let me know? Why—"

"Hey! Get your hands off of him!" Gokudera growled, stomping up to the woman. He grabs the wrist closest to him and yanks the hand off of Tsuna's shoulder.

"You're…_Guardiano di Tempesta_…Giotto's right-hand man…"

Gokudera clicked his tongue in disgust and opened his mouth to correct her mistake of 'Giotto' with 'Tenth', but Reborn stopped him.

"Are you referring to Vongola Primo?" Reborn questioned the woman, one eye shaded by his fedora. In his hand, he held gun-Leon. Leon wasn't pointed at her, but it was by Reborn's side with the safety lock off.

"'Primo'? I'm referring to the one and only boss of the Vongola," she answered the infant.

"As I thought…" Reborn muttered, jumping onto Tsuna's shoulder. "I don't know how you got here, but you're from the past. This no-good person in front of you is not Vongola Primo, he's Vongola Decimo. You referred to Primo by his first name, so…" Reborn lifted Leon into the air, aiming it at the woman's forehead. "Who are you?"

Despite the comical situation of a baby holding a gun up at her face, she didn't laugh. Her face was serious as she replied, "My name is Yuki, the _Guardiano di Neve_—the Vongola's Snow Guardian." As she told them her title, she held up her right hand. On her middle finger was a shining ring that resembled a shield with three shells and a simplistic picture of a blizzard.

* * *

_End Chapter One_

_Well, hope you liked it so far! _

_The Snow Guardian is my creation; and her name is oh-so-creative, isn't it? XD_

_Translations:_

_Guardiano di Nuvole: "Guardian of Cloud"_

_Guardiano di Tempesta: "Guardian of Storm"_

_Guardiano di Neve: "Guardian of Snow"_

_Primo-First_

_Decimo-Tenth_

_Yuki no Shugosha: "Guardian of Snow"_

_~Reviews Please!~_


	2. Chapter Two: From the Past

_Just an edit on the names, now that I know the official released ones; that's the only edit._

_Disclaimer: Don't own Katekyou Hitman Reborn._

* * *

_**From the Past**_

Gokudera and Yamamoto were sitting at the low table in Tsuna's room. Yuki sat across from the glaring Storm Guardian. Tsuna sat across from Yamamoto, trying to get Gokudera to stop eyeing the woman as Reborn cleared his throat. After Tsuna had quieted down, Reborn faced Yuki, Leon still in hands. "Now, then, would you mind explaining what happened before you got here?"

Yuki glanced down at the green gun in Reborn's hand then at hers, which sat dissembled on Tsuna's bed. "The Vongola were in the middle of an inter-family feud. Some of the family and the rest of the Vongola Guardians—as well as myself—were led by Giotto. Our opponents were those led by Riccardo."

"Vongola Secondo," Reborn murmured, "the boss with the Flames of Wrath."

Yuki gave him a quiet, confused stare, but continued with her story. "Anyways…the whole headquarters was up in flames. In the hallways, lay corpses of comrades and former comrades. All of us wanted to just stop; we hated fighting our own friends and Giotto did more than anything or anyone. But, we all knew that we had to: it was inevitable. Throughout all history, internal feuds were bound to happen. Even as the most peaceful mafia family in all of Italy, it was something that we couldn't prevent."

Tsuna's eyebrows drew together with sympathy as he listened to her story. He wanted to say something, but he knew that it wouldn't be right. He sat as he watched the long-haired woman's eyes started to glaze over.

"I…" At the sound of hearing her own voice tremble, Yuki stopped and took a deep breath. When she spoke again, her voice was smooth, but there were still small cracks that leaked her sorrow. "G., Giotto's right-hand man, suggested that Boss should retreat to Japan, where he wouldn't have to fight Riccardo. Ugetsu agreed and after much persuasion, Giotto finally gave in to our begging."

She closed her eyes as the memories came painfully flooding back.

* * *

"_This way, Boss!" G. whispered, waving his hand for the blond man to come. After doing so, he reloaded his gun, a gift from that very man._

"_I'm sorry that you all need to do this," Giotto apologized as he and his guardians were gathered together. "If only I had told Riccardo the truth from the beginning, this wouldn't have—"_

"_Happened?" a white-haired guardian questioned. His flat hair stuck to his sweaty forehead and clumps formed with drying blood from his wounds. "Don't be absurd, Boss…This would have happened eventually. If there was closer surveillance over that Guardiano di Nebbia then this wouldn't be happening now."_

_Giotto opened his mouth to speak, to defend his Mist Guardian, but he was cut off._

"_It's entirely my fault that Daemon Spade escaped to Riccardo," the Sun Guardian interrupted. "If I had just kept my attention focused on him rather than on my upcoming competition, then he wouldn't…" He looked down at the ground, wrinkles between his eyebrows. "I'm sorry, Boss!" he yelled, "I-I—"_

_Their leader smiled warmly, placing an equally caring hand on the black-haired Italian's shoulder. "Enough of that already, Knuckle."_

"_Boss, we cleared the hallways." A man with three short swords and one long sword announced as he came to a halt. Behind him was a woman with long black-hair tied up into a tail by a white ribbon, two eyes of sapphire, and a pair of guns in her hands. Both of their clothes were torn up with rips and stained with spots of blood_

_The man was tired, but hid his shortened breath to the best of his abilities. "Let's go."_

"_Wait!" The woman stopped the group of men from moving with the single command, "Where's Rampo?"_

_Giotto spun around, looking at each face of his subordinates, counting in his mind. When he realized they were one short, fear took hold of his expression and he sprinted back down the way they had come._

"_Giotto! Wait!" The gun-wielder had only taken a step when the white-haired Cloud Guardian stopped her._

"_It's no use worrying about him now. We have to clear up the rest of the mansion so we can—"_

"_Let go of me, Alaude!" she snapped, withdrawing from his clutch. "You and the others can do that! I'm going after Boss!"_

"_Yuki, wait!" G. yelled, futilely reaching for her shrinking figure. He rushed after her, only to be stopped by a burning wooden beam that had fallen from the ceiling. The Storm Guardian pushed the fear from his mind and ran towards the flame, but Knuckle and the Rain Guardian held him back, looping their arms around his._

"_Ugetsu! Knuckle! What are you doing?" The man thrashed in their grip, struggling to break free as if his life depended on it. "Yuki and Giotto! They're—"_

"_Be rational, G.!" Ugetsu barked, "You're about to charge right into a fire!"_

"_But! Giotto—"_

"_He'll be fine! Yuki and Rampo will be with him!"_

"_Yuki!" G. clicked his tongue in disgust at himself, tears streaming down his ash-dirtied cheeks._

"_I'm sorry, G.," Yuki murmured as she ran through the hallway. She didn't have time to turn back formally; right now, she only had time to find her boss._

_As she continued through the hallway, peering into every opened door for Giotto, she felt her heart constrict. Tears streamed from the corner of her eyes as the worst-case scenarios played through her head. She had already fallen over twice; the second time caused the heel in her shoes to brake and a swelled ankle. "Crap…" she cursed as she tossed off the useless things. Despite the pain in her ankle, she pushed onwards._

_Her resolution was the only thing that kept her running, the only thing that kept her through the pain, the only thing that kept her conscious. When she reached a fork in the road, she only took one glance down each side. She spotted a suited man at the doorway to a room. Without hesitation she went down that hall and tackled the man down to the floor. There was a click, a bang, and then there was piercing pain._

_A blur of gold rushed out the room with an unconscious adolescent on his back. "Yuki! Why did you follow me here? It's too dangerous—"_

"_Enough of that!" she snapped. The man instantly closed his mouth. "You idiot, Giotto! What if something happened to you? Don't you know how worried everyone would be? And G.…G. would never forgive himself! You should have just kept on going! I could've gone to find Rampo myself! Stupid Giotto! Idiot Giotto!"_

"_Yuki…" his tone was soft and she looked up at her boss. The expression on his face was a fusion of exhaustion and pain._

"_I heard the shot down this way!"_

_Yuki turned her head at the sound, eyes in a glare. "Take Rampo and leave," she muttered. "I'll clean up this mess…"_

"_Yuki—"_

"_Go!" she ordered, not looking behind her until she heard the clattering of footsteps followed by the shattering of glass. "You should have some more faith in me, Giotto…" she whispered, reality—the pain, the weariness—settled in. "I'm the Vongola's Snow, the icy blanket that hides the Family's tracks."_

"_Down there! It's one of the eight guardians!" the man hollered._

_Yuki lifted her lead arms up into the air, pointing them at her former comrades that were rushing towards her in a wave. "Arrividerci…"_

_Bang._

* * *

"After that, I used the last of my strength to take shelter in a mountain cave hidden by the forest. My ankle was still in pain and I had lost vision in one of my eyes. While there, I decided to get some rest, so I retreated to the back of the cave and went to sleep. When I opened my eyes, it was cold and almost completely dark."

"Then sometime between you falling asleep in the cave and waking up in our time, someone must have moved you," Reborn deduced, "And that someone must have been from the Medici Family."

"The…Medici?"

"Yes, Dame Tsuna," Reborn confirmed, "The Medici Family. They're the family with the curled up western dragon as their sign. 'Medici' is what they named themselves, probably after the Medici from the fifteenth century that governed Florence and had banks set up throughout Italy, London, and Flanders. The real Medici were major patrons of art. This family, however—"

"Are devotees of science and the development of new weaponry, especially bio-weaponry," Gokudera finished. He stood up and headed for the door. "I'm going back home for today, Tenth," he muttered, letting the door shut behind him. It wasn't a slam, but the sound penetrated the silence in the room.

Yamamoto's face, soft with slight amusement and slight worry, turned from the door to Tsuna as he too stood up. "I'll make sure Gokudera doesn't do anything rash. Besides, Dad wanted me to pick up some more _nori_ before the shop opened for dinner."

Tsuna smiled, understandingly. "Then, I'll see you at school tomorrow, Yamamoto."

"So, Yuki-san," Tsuna turned to the Snow Guardian. "I guess you'll be needing a place to stay, so why don't you stay here until we can get something worked out for you?"

Yuki looked up at Tsuna in surprise. "You'd really let me do that, Tuna?"

"Em…My name's not 'Tuna', it's Tsuna," he corrected. "And it'd be no problem at all to take you in. I'm sure Bianchi—"

Within a few seconds, Tsuna's face was on the floor and Reborn's foot rested on top of his messy brown hair. "Oi, Dame Tsuna; you don't offer someone living accommodations and force them into the same room as other guests; it's rude. She'll take your room."

"Eh?" Tsuna's voice was muffled, "But Reborn—"

"No excuses," Reborn interrupted, "You can sleep downstairs in the kitchen that way you can make sure everyone's safe. It's your job as a boss to protect your Family."

"U-Understood," Tsuna surrendered.

Reborn couldn't help but smile. "Good, then I'll ask Maman if she'll lend some clothes to her. Keep your guest company while I'm gone like a good host, alright?" He was already off Tsuna's head and at the door by the time he had finished speaking.

"I got it, I got it," Tsuna replied and the Arcobaleno disappeared behind the door.

Silence. Yuki eyed her gun from where she sat but did not move.

_Vongola. Decimo. Power._

"Tuna…"

Tsuna turned to her at the sound of what he considered would become his newest nickname. "Ah, yes, Yuki-san?"

"Do you know what's been happening with the Vongola since I went to 'sleep'?" Yuki asked. Confusion, worry, anxiety, and anticipation flooded her eyes. "What happened between Giotto and Riccardo and the Guardians?"

Tsuna averted his gaze for a second. "Well…Giotto-san made it to Japan and Riccardo became Vongola Secondo."

"What about G.? Ugetsu? Alaude? Knuckle? Rampo?"

"I don't know. I'm still learning the history," Tsuna admitted, scratching the back of his head.

"I-I see…" Yuki looked towards the window. It was completely dark outside now with the exception of the street lamps. "Were the lamps in Japan always this bright?" she mumbled.

"Pardon? I didn't catch that."

"It's nothing…nothing at all." Yuki gazed up at the innumerous stars that lit up the sky. She stuck her head out the window, inhaling the crisp cold air, eyes closed.

* * *

"_See that star, Yuki? That's the constellation for your horoscope: Capricorn," A blond man pointed up at an arrangement of stars from under a giant oak tree. "And that one over there is Orion. Over there is the Big Dipper, and—"_

"_Ha," a long-haired woman laughed._

"_W-What's so funny?" the man asked, turning red._

_The woman shook her head, "It's nothing…nothing at all."_

* * *

"Um, Yuki-san…" Tsuna tapped her shoulder and she spun instantly, giving the mafia boss-to-be a glare. Her gaze softened when she realized it was only Tsuna. However, she didn't let her guard down around the boy. "If you'd like, you can take a shower first," he offered, his facial expression showed that he was clearly shook by her sudden glowering.

She patted his shoulder, stooping down to be eye level with Tsuna. "I'm sorry I scared you like that. It's just that I can't be too careful. Even if this is a different era than the one I'm from and remember, I just can't let all my training go." Yuki stood up again and the air in the room was calm and almost soothing. "I'll be using the shower first, then. About the clothes…"

Yuki's sudden calmness gave Tsuna a worried feeling, but he brushed it off, thinking that it was all in his head. "I'll go see what's taking Reborn so long," Tsuna smiled as he ran towards the door. "I'll be right back."

There was a light creak and the door fit back into the frame.

Yuki let out a sigh and leaned with her back to the cold night. She remembered her ring and lifted her hand up, looking at it from under the full moon. It glistened under the soft light like ice. She closed her hand into a fist and kissed the shield.

"Is that how you fuel your resolve?" Reborn asked from the floor in front of her. In his hands was a pair of pajamas.

"It's my way of pledging to serve the boss of the family," Yuki answered coolly. She was surprised that the baby had come up to her without noticing.

"Right now, that'd be the Ninth in Italy," Reborn commented. The two commenced to silence.

"Little baby," Yuki glanced at Reborn's pacifier, which started to glow a light yellow, then at the shadow he cast, which was not that of a baby's, but a man. "What's your secret?"

Almost at once, as if the light was playing a trick on her eyes, the shadow morphed back into a form fitting for the hitman's. Losing interest in the dark, she looked at the small face, waiting for an answer. "If I told you, then it wouldn't be a secret," he answered, stepping forward and offering her the clothes.

Yuki kneeled down to take the folded cloth from Reborn and held them in crossed arms against her torso. "You won't tell me?"

Reborn smiled, "I'll tell you as much as the others already know: I'm one of the strongest mafia babies in the world, an Arcobaleno. Similar to the Vongola—rather, what we previously thought of the Vongola—there are seven different colored pacifiers, each a different color according to the rainbow."

"A mafia baby?" she stood up. "Then that explains a lot of things."

Tsuna came rushing into the room, panting, and the home tutor and Snow Guardian turned their attention to the student. "I couldn't find Reborn, so I asked my mom for—Reborn! When did you get back?"

"Dame Tsuna, didn't I tell you to keep your guest company?"

"Yeah, but—"

Reborn turned to Yuki, "You should go take a shower while I beat some manners into my disciple."

"Alright," Yuki agreed, heading out the door.

* * *

(Italy)

Solid steel was pried from a frame and laid to the side by two men, both strong with muscles hidden by long black sleeves of a suit jacket. The metal board had hidden a scientist, shivering in fetal position. Behind him was a half melted ice block that was manifested against the wall.

"C-C-Cold," the shivering man stuttered, his breath came out visible.

A man with reddish-pink hair wearing a black duffel coat walked up to the two men and the scientist. "Get him warm and then bring him to my office for interrogation," he ordered.

The two grunts nodded and grabbed the coat-less man and dragged him away. The man walked in, partially frozen water crunching and splashing under foot. He studied the ice that remained on the wall and outlined the frame of an outspread arm with his gloved fingers. The hand stopped when it reached an outline of a small shield.

The man clicked his tongue and pulled a cell phone out of his pocket. "Order everyone to look for Test Subject 0-G24. I want _it_ found and brought back to the lab alive."

Then, to end the call, he crushed the mobile in his hand and let the pieces fall to the floor, trailing behind him.

* * *

_End Chapter Two_

_Reviews always welcome._


	3. Chapter Three: First Day of School

_Edit: Name change (to official name) again. ^^ Oh, and I changed the scene between D. Spade and Yuki a bit so it's not as confusing, but it's still a little ambiguous? =~=;_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn; all credit for this awesome manga goes to Akira Amano._

* * *

_**First Day of School**_

"Um…Yuki-san…I understand that you're just doing your job as a Vongola Guardian, but you don't need to follow me to school so conspicuously," Tsuna mumbled as he walked a few feet ahead of the Snow Guardian.

"Nonsense; it's better if I watch you like this, then hitmen and assassins will be too intimidated to come after you," she explained while glaring at a vast range of bushes, fences, houses, cats, and dogs—Chihuahuas to be exact.

"But—"

"Besides, this will be of great assistance to your home tutor. You should be considerate and respect your teacher. From what I've seen so far, you can't do much without that baby."

Tsuna sighed and began to mouth out a new word when he was suddenly pushed toward a bush. He looked up in confusion to see Yuki with a gun—courtesy of Reborn—jabbed into the junction of a certain baseball player's head and neck. "Y-Yuki-san!"

"You…You're the tenth generation _Guardiano di Pioggia_, correct?" Yuki asked, glare fixed at his eyes.

Yamamoto let out a laugh and smiled brightly. "Oh? You're playing in the mafia game, too? This game is really interesting, isn't it?"

Tsuna paled; his face read: _He still thinks this is a game? But last night at my house…_

"Yamamoto Takeshi, if you're only coming to greet Tuna, then you need not hide your presence. However, for such a skill and being able to draw your weapon so quickly, I commend you."

In Yamamoto's hands was Shigure Kintoki in blade form at Yuki's collar. "Thanks," he smiled as both lowered their weapons simultaneously.

Tsuna pushed himself off the bushes, dusting off leaves, branches, and dirt. He didn't want to think of his friend like this, but Reborn's words from the Ring Conflict replayed in his head: _A natural born hitman_.

"Gokudera's trailing behind a bit. He had to go back home to pick up some stuff and said he'd catch up later, so let's get to school," Yamamoto suggested, storing the former sword, now bamboo blade, into its bag.

Tsuna nodded, "Y-Yeah…"

* * *

At the edge of the school gate, Hibari leaned against the wall, checking each student's uniform as they entered the school grounds. He waited as minutes—seconds went by until it was almost time to close the gates. A rush of students came charging full speed towards the door.

The few that lagged behind the rest consisted of a tall and tan baseball player, a chestnut color-haired herbivore, and an armed woman. Upon spotting the group, Hibari shifted to the center, blocking admission into the school for the laggards.

"Coming so close to the tardy bell…do you have a death wish, Herbivore?" Hibari asked the short second year. Rather than smirking as he normally did, the corners of his lips were tugged slightly downwards. He glared back at Yuki. "I'm sorry, but anyone other than the staff and students is not allowed on campus. I'll need you to have your bodyguard leave, Herbivore, or would you prefer that I bite you and your _crowd_ to death?"

Tsuna gulped, his skin lost its color and he started to perspire. Then he turned around to face Yuki, looking down as he spoke, "I-I'm sorry, Yuki-san. Could you please wait outside of the school?"

Yuki's eyebrows furrowed, but she gave a short nod, complying to the order reluctantly. "Understood," she muttered.

Hibari couldn't help but smirk now; his mood had lifted. He turned to Tsuna and Yamamoto. "Now then, as for you two, get to class before the tardy bell rings or there will be consequences."

"Yes, Hibari, sir!" Tsuna bowed before jolting into the school building.

Yamamoto laughed as he started chasing after him. "Wait for me, Tsuna!"

Hibari pulled the gate closed in front of Yuki and locked it. Then he turned towards the doors of the school, shooting Yuki one last glare from the corner of his eyes as a warning.

When the disciplinary head was out of sight and behind the school doors, Yuki set down her attaché case on the floor and propped it open. "As if I'll just stand around…" Yuki grumbled as she pulled out a pair of fake glasses. "What kind of guardian do they take me for?" She slipped them on and began taking out a skirt, a coat, and a white button-up collared shirt.

* * *

Tsuna relaxed in his seat. After running into Hibari and into class, he needed this short break. Another person related to the mafia had shown up in front of him again and as always, it was an exhausting person.

"Tenth! You made it to class on time!" Gokudera smiled as he walked up to the panting Tsuna.

"G-Gokudera? But Yamamoto said—"

"Forget about what that stupid baseball nut said. I only had him say that to that woman from the Medici," he whispered, "Really, I just wanted to secure the area before you arrived."

Tsuna nodded, uneasy, "I-I see…Then—"

"Okay class, settle down now! It's school time, so get to your seats already!" The teacher boomed from the doorway as he briskly made his way to his desk

The students obeyed and one by one took their seats, including Gokudera, who muttered something about exploding the teacher's car.

"Before we begin today's lecture, I'd like to introduce the new student-teacher," he nodded towards the door and a woman dressed in business clothes apparel, with the exception of a tie. Her black hair was up was clipped up with a black plastic clamp.

"My name is Sanada Yuuki," she announced, pushing a pair of glasses up by the bridge. "It's a pleasure to meet you all and I hope we'll get along nicely."

Tsuna looked up at the woman in shock and dread. His classmates whispered amongst themselves about the new "student-teacher", who was watching at Tsuna from under the glare of her glasses.

* * *

(Break)

_With all these people around, how am I supposed to watch Tuna? I can't even hear a thing he's saying over there!_

"Sanada-san, which college are you attending?" a girl asked.

"T University," she smiled as she remembered the profile that had been prepared in case of this situation. "After I get my credentials, I'm going to try and apply for a job either here in Namimori or in Midori."

The girl's face lit up and she turned to her friend next to her, who was also smiling. "Doesn't Kyoko-chan have a friend that goes to Midori?"

Her friend nodded, "Yeah, I think her name was Miura Haru."

"So, Yuuki-san, do you have a boyfriend?" one of the boys toothed a grin. Everyone else turned with glittering eyes.

"Do you have one, Sanada-san?" they pressed.

The student-teacher opened her mouth to say something and the students stopped talking, anticipating her reply. Instead of speaking though, she raised an index finger in front of her lips. "That's a secret," she replied.

* * *

"The new student-teacher is nice and pretty," Kyoko told Hana; the two walked past Tsuna, Gokudera, and Yamamoto as they went outside.

"It seems that everyone likes Sanada-san," Yamamoto smiled, turning back to Tsuna and Gokudera. He put a stick of milk-flavored Pocky in his mouth and offered one to his friends, who both took a stick.

Gokudera clicked his tongue in disgust, leaning back in his chair. "I don't like her. She's too suspicious." The silver-haired teen stuffed half of the coated biscuit in his mouth. "And just the fact that she has the same name as that 'Snow Guardian' pisses me off, even if they use different characters and spelling."

"G-Gokudera! You shouldn't be so rude! Besides if you talk that loudly, she'll hear you," Tsuna murmured. Gokudera sat up straight only so that he could lower his head in respect.

"I'm sorry if my actions offended you, Tenth!" he exclaimed, now standing with body bent over at the waist. "Please forgive me!"

Tsuna waved his hands and shook his head. "Eh? N-No! I'm not offended!" He glanced around the room, thankfully no one was looking; all of them were preoccupied with talking with the student-teacher. The short middle-school student rested a gentle hand on Gokudera's shoulder. "It's fine, just sit down, okay?" he smiled, whispering quietly.

Tsuna looked up at the clock above the chalkboard and the teacher's desk. "I'm going to buy some juice. Do you guys want anything?"

"Orange," Yamamoto answered, finishing the last of his cookies.

"I'll come with you, Tenth!" Gokudera suggested.

Tsuna shook his head, "No, that's okay. I can get it myself. Do you want anything, Gokudera?"

"I'll have the same as the Tenth," he muttered, defeated.

Tsuna smiled, "Okay, I'll be right back." And then he left the classroom in a light jog out the door.

The student-teacher followed his movements behind her glasses, but said nothing about him leaving.

* * *

(Class Time)

"It's time for the test you've all been waiting for. Get out your pencils and erasers now. Any pencil pouches still out on your desk will be confiscated and you will receive a zero on the test," the teacher announced. "After the test, you will fill out this flier. Longchamp, please hand out these." He handed a stack of papers to Naito, who had come back to school after a long week of playing hooky with his girlfriend.

"Got it, Sensei!" the spiky haired boy smiled, tongue rolled out like a retired rock star's dog. He looked over to Tsuna and waved, "Hey, how about you help me out, too?"

Tsuna looked away, pretending that Naito wasn't talking to him, but it was to no avail. Everyone in the class knew that the only person Naito would ever try to include in everything was Tsuna, and most of the mass of students that sat around him stared at him. Some were laughing, some were sympathetic, but Tsuna could feel both types of gazes boring into him. Even the "student-teacher" was looking at him, but it was more or less the same way Gokudera looked at him most of the time: as a bodyguard.

"Hey! Help me pass these out, would you?" he yelled. The simple-minded 8th generation only thought that Tsuna hadn't heard him.

"Instead of bothering another student and wasting time just standing around, wouldn't it be better and less of a waste of time to just do it yourself?"

Everyone turned to the student-teacher. She was smiling sweetly, but something about her made the students freeze.

Naito smiled goofily, "Got it, Sanada-sensei!"

* * *

(Lunch)

"Tenth! Let's eat up on the rooftop!" Gokudera smiled as he started dragging Tsuna to the door.

"Alright! Alright! Just stop pulling! It's embarrassing!" Tsuna whispered back as he and Gokudera slipped through the doorway.

_He's getting away…After him…_

"You'll have to excuse me, everyone, I have some business to take care of in the teacher's lounge."

"Ah," the students groaned in chorus.

"Sorry again." A light smile graced pale skin and the gathered children couldn't help but feel drawn to the radiance. "I'll see you all after lunch is over, okay?" Heels stood up and walked to the doorway. Only stopping after hearing a voice call out to a pair of ears.

"We'll let you go, but you have to tell us about your boyfriend later, okay Sanada-sensei?" one of the male students smiled, half-joking and half-serious.

The student-teacher's face went blank for a second before a gentler smile teased her lips. "Maybe some other time then," she answered before walking out the door.

* * *

"Tsuna!" Naito threw open the door to the roof, causing the hapless boy to jump and spill red tomato juice all over his uniform. Gokudera glared at Tomaso's heir.

"You! What are you doing to the Tenth?" he exclaimed at Naito, who just smiled back.

He giggled, "My bad."

"'My bad' my ass…" Gokudera grumbled as he stomped to the door.

"E-Eh? Gokudera, where are you going?" Tsuna called out to the storming guardian.

"I'm going to get your P.E. clothes, Tenth," Gokudera smiled, and then he turned to Yamamoto. "Hey, baseball idiot, I'm going to leave you in charge until I get back. Make sure nothing happens from the Tenth, got that?" Then he slammed open the door and walked down the staircase.

"Sorry about that," Naito smiled, enthusiastically curling his fingers like a boxer. "To make up for it, let's go karaoke. I'll introduce you to some girls, too."

"N-No thanks," Tsuna laughed uncomfortably as he remembered his last outing with Naito and the girls from bowling. "It's fine, honestly."

The door creaked open and Tsuna turned to the door, expecting Gokudera's imminent arrival. But instead of Gokudera walking through the door with a pair of shorts and a shirt, the student-teacher walked in, pushing up her pair of glasses by the bridge of the nose.

"Excuse me, students shouldn't be—" she stopped. In front of her, she saw a red-stained student and another in front of him with hands clenched in fists. Her composure broke apart and a strand of hair fell from her tightly pulled-up hair. She covered her death glare with her glasses and strode to the two boys.

"_Guardiano di Pioggia_…I expected better from you. You let your Boss get hurt like this?" The student-teacher took out shining metal from the plastic clamp and pointed it at Naito.

"Yuki-san!" Tsuna exclaimed, "P-Please put down the gun, nothing happened!"

She ignored Tsuna's plea and took off the gun's safety lock. "You'll pay for harming Vongola's Tenth Generation heir!" Her index finger pulled down on the trigger and then…

_Bam!_

Out of the end of Yuki's gun was a small flag with "winner" on the fabric, and on her gun-holding wrist was a trail of blood streaming down a graze. Yuki threw the gun on the floor. "That baby! What does he expect me to do with a faulty gun?"

Tsuna watched blankly for two reasons: 1, he had screamed out for Reborn's Russian Roulette party gun; and 2, he knew from experience that what had cut Yuki's wrist was the Desolation Bullet, a result of threatening Naito Longchamp. But, nothing happened.

"Yuki-san, are you okay?" Tsuna asked wearily.

"Oh, this?" Yuki held up her wrist. "It's just a scratch; nothing to be worried about."

"I-I see," Tsuna smiled awkwardly. "Then that's good."

"Tenth! I'm—" Gokudera stopped, exchanging looks with each of the present people. He stopped when he saw Yuki and gave her a death glare, pulling out two dynamite sticks from behind him. "You…What are you doing here?"

"My job," she replied, "and yours as well, it would seem. What were you thinking being so negligent…If G. were here, he would never have let this kind of thing happen."

Gokudera tucked his bombs away, averting his hurt green gaze. "Totally worthless…I'm so weak that I can't even protect Tenth from a tomato juice stain!" He threw the P.E. clothes at the four before running down the stairs.

Tsuna paled in disbelief. _Did it have the opposite effect?_

Yamamoto sighed and picked up the uniform. "I'll go check up on Gokudera. Catch you later, okay?"

Tsuna nodded. "Thanks, Yamamoto. See you later."

"It's starting to get a bit boring so I'll be going, too, 'kay?" Naito smiled as he walked his Mafioso-style strut. "I'll call you about the karaoke, yeah?" He stuck out a pinky and thumb from his fist and put it next to his ear.

He stared as Tomaso's eighth generation boss left the roof. A shiver ran through his body at the thought of the karaoke party; he'd have to clear up the situation to his classmate later.

Next to the chestnut color-haired teen, Yuki stood, staring up at the sky. Her eyes were shells and unreadable. A soft breeze made her separated lock of hair flutter over her face, but she still didn't move. Tsuna couldn't help but feel awe from the beautiful silence and tranquility that she emitted and he blushed. But inside him, he felt his heart squeeze and his stomach clench. His instincts told him there was something wrong with this picture but he couldn't quite place why.

"Um, Yuki-san," Tsuna spoke up, breaking the silence. Yuki's eyes flashed with life again and she turned to Tsuna. White and blue were scared and shocked, but sunk back into calmness.

"Yes?" she asked with a smile. Again, Tsuna's heart told him that there was something in his gaze that shouldn't be there.

"A-Are you okay?" he mumbled. Her trained ears caught the words before the wind could escape with them.

Her gaze softened and she bent down to pick up Reborn's toy gun. "I told you before, Tuna, I'm fine; it was only a scratch." She walked towards Tsuna, lifted his warm hands with her inhumanly freezing ones, and set the borrowed toy on his palm, curling his fingers around it. Then, she hesitantly took her hands away from his. "It's probably almost time for your next class. Start moving." She gave him a small push by the shoulders.

"Got it…" Tsuna whispered. His worry didn't leave him, but he complied reluctantly.

* * *

"School was so tiring today," Tsuna sighed as he threw himself onto the sofa. He looked up at the ceiling and remembered the rooftop incident. He turned his body so that his amber eyes would be staring at the sofa's back cushions. "Why did I think Yuki seemed…sad? She was smiling, wasn't she?"

He closed his eyes, drawing up the memory from lunch, only hours prior to now. In the playback, he noticed the pain twitch in the corner of her mouth. "So, she wasn't…"

"You should take a bath before going to sleep, Tuna."

Tsuna shot up at the sound of Yuki's voice. He hadn't even heard the front door open or close. "Yuki-san, where were you?"

"Convenience store," she replied. "The mafia baby helped me get a part-time job."

"But what about being a student-teacher?"

"My life is to protect my boss," Yuki answered as she hung her coat up. "But even if it's my life, I can't just free-load off of my boss's mother. If I make some money, I can help make Maman's life a little easier."

"You don't need to do that, Yuki-san! My father sends her money from his work overseas, so we'll have enough!"

"'No work, no food'. Haven't you ever heard that proverb before?" Yuki asked, "Besides, it wouldn't be right for me to do nothing for her in exchange of staying here. Even Bianchi-san does something, so I can't fall behind."

"B-But—"

Yuki stopped him mid-sentence. "No more excuses. Once my mind is set to do something, I follow that order through to the best of my abilities. Now take a bath and get some rest. It's important for a growing boy."

"O-Okay," Tsuna replied as he got off the couch. "Then I'll take a bath first." The brown-haired teen scrambled up the staircase, falling over once before making it to the second floor. Yuki chuckled at his clumsiness before following him up the stairs. She headed straight to the room she was given and opened the window, looking out at the stars.

"If only I hadn't…" Water fell in a small stream from her eyes and glittered in the starlight.

* * *

"_D. Spade, you can keep a secret, right?" Yuki asked as she took a sip of her tea._

_The man sitting across from her smiled smugly, "Of course I can. Just how long have you known me, Yuki?"_

"_Seven years," she replied. She avoided the Mist Guardian's captivating gaze and followed a butterfly as it landed on a flower._

"_And have I ever given away any of your secrets?"_

"…_No, but—" She stopped and turned to the man. Her sapphire eyes bristled with anger, "I never even told you any—"_

_Porcelain fell to the grassy earth with a dull thud and chamomile spilled onto the green carpet. Cheeks went red, wrists were restrained by gloved hands, and sapphire eyes were attracted into the hypnotizing orbs opposing them. Breaths mingled as a contract between lips was broken._

"_What was it that you wanted to tell me, Yuki?" A voice, soft as the mist, questioned._

"_It's about Riccardo…"_

_Thin eyebrows raised in interest. "Tell me more."_

"_I—Giotto and I—we're afraid of him. He's been acting more violent recently and Giotto and I started thinking that there was something wrong," she answered._

"_I see."_

_Restraints slipped away. The opposing orbs were now directed at the butterfly floating in the air._

"_We won't tell anyone about this conversation, right?"_

"_R-Right…"_

"_Not even Giotto."_

_Sapphire eye flickered to reality. "W-What?" she exclaimed, "B-But D. Spade!"_

_The man took a sip of chamomile from his own cup. "If you do, I'll tell your secret to the man you don't want to hear it."_

"_W-What secret?" she asked. Her curiosity and fear got the best of her._

"_That our contract wasn't your first; that it belongs to a man that you stole it from whilst he slept."_

_Deep red. Palms were on the table and eyebrows were taut with anger. "D-Daemon Spade! How did you—"_

"_I'm the Guardiano di Nebbia. I make something from nothing and nothing from something. I can be anywhere and nowhere, so where do you think I was when your first contract was made?"_

_Yuki averted her gaze, she couldn't be captured by the deep, destructive gaze again. "You…were spying on me?"_

_Daemon Spade laughed, "Don't flatter yourself; I merely wanted to enjoy a show. And may I say I was thoroughly pleased."_

"_You're a sick pervert," Yuki grumbled._

_The Mist Guardian's laughter died, but his smile remained its remnant. "And you are a sick and twisted girl, are you not?"_

* * *

"I'm so…worthless, so weak…I can't even keep a secret," she whispered. The stars that normally gave her hope only seemed to drain her strength and prick her with small needles of light and her childhood. "I'm sorry, Giotto…"

* * *

_End Chapter Three_

_Reviews, critics, critiques, grammar edits; all welcome! ^^_


	4. Chapter Four: First Appearance

_Thanks for the wait, everyone! Here's the next chapter…_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyou Hitman Reborn._

* * *

_**First Appearance**_

Jeeps and trucks stopped in front of a prison. Out of the vehicle directly in front of the gates came the leader of the several subordinates that followed after him from the other jeeps. He pulled the sleeves of a large black duffel coat over his toned, lightly browned arms and left the coat unbuttoned over his tank top underneath.

The man walked up to the gate guard with arrogance, cruelty, and intent in his steps. "I want to talk with one of your patients," he announced to the guard in front of him. The prison guard, whose head was wrapped in white gauze under a black hat, gave a small chuckle.

"This is a prison, not a hospital. And we don't have visiting hours," the guard answered. Even with his entirety covered in bandages, his voice came out clear as day, unhindered by muffling.

The man in the large black coat scowled for only a glimpsing moment before he regained his original seriousness and furrowed eyebrows. He pulled out his hands from his pockets, moving his hands in front of him as a gesture of good will. "I'm sure we can come to some kind of agreement." A wicked smile escaped him as he saw the gleam of sterling silver raise strike from his ring.

The bandaged prison guard straightened as if her were a dog perking its ears at the sound of a storm. From under white, the guard looked at the insignia designed into the ring. There was a short silence between the two until the guard spoke again. "I see…An agreement? That all depends on the prisoner you wish to see. Tell me the scum's name and I'll see if we can do anything for you, Mr. Medici."

The black-coated man stuffed his hands back into his pocket and flipped his red-pink hair away from his face with a grin toothed like a victorious predator. "The 'scum' I want to see is the one that has traveled to the edge of transmigration…"

* * *

_A soft breeze rustled the leaves of a lone tree in a field of lush green. Above this scenery rested a cool blue sky. There was no sun to be seen, no clouds, but it was bright and the solitary bystander cast a shadow. Under its shade, two smiled and chatted to the tone of the scenery. One, a girl dressed in a white spaghetti-strap sun dress with a white medical eye patch over her right eye and the other, another teenager in a white-collared long-sleeved shirt, unwrinkled by restraining black plants. His mismatched eyes covered by fair lids, smile on his face as he listened to the girl._

_Both were barefoot; their feet chilled slightly by the dampened earth beneath them where no grass grew and no roots rose from._

_Suddenly, the whole meadow was filled with darkness. Grey clouds swirled with envy and wrath above the two and the tree lost its leaves before it shriveled and wilted. The green from the grass drained into sooty soil and soon, the breezy stalks were dehydrated._

_The girl was on her feet in distress and a protective arm wrapped around her shoulder, hugging her close to a warm chest. Safety. Her sanctuary was short-lasting after that same soothing hand pushed her away. She fell to the floor, watching as the man was immersed in a grab of shadowy hands sprung from the where the dead tree was rooted. Soon, a cloak of black befell her eyes and she was blind._

* * *

"Master Mukuro!" The girl shot up, uncovered violet eye open.

She looked around her only to see a room covered with shadows. Flashes of hands emerging from the darkness caused her to shiver. She shook off the fear before it settled and infested her body and grabbed an army green-colored jacket, pulling on the sleeves and snapping the buttons on the torso. A pair of sock-covered feet were quickly slipped into black leather knee-length boots and buckled into the shoes.

"I'm leaving," she announced to no one as she grabbed the trident leaned against the wall and rushed out of her tattered room.

* * *

"Something tells me today is going to be another exhausting day," Tsuna mumbled after a loud yawn. His back was slumped over in tiredness. He only had a few moments of slow walking before his two friends would come to give him his true wake-up call.

The faint rushing of footsteps resounded in his ears and he gave himself five seconds to prepare for the incoming tackle.

Tsuna started to count quietly, "Five…four…three—"

"Tenth, duck!"

The drowsy, brown-haired teen paused and looked around before he saw an ignited stick coming towards him. The dynamite landed in his hands and his eyes widened. "B-Bomb?" he exclaimed as his brain processed the object in his hands. Without a second's hesitation, he hurled the stick behind him. Soon after, the inevitable explosion of dust and smoke thrust the poor middle-school student forward, causing him to land on his face ten feet from his point of origin.

Tsuna sat up, dabbing his stinging forward with his fingers. He looked at his fingers, which were a sticky red. A hand rested on Tsuna's shoulder and he turned to the grey-haired figure next to him. "Gokudera—"

"Sorry, Tenth," Gokudera smiled as he apologized, "I was just heading to your house when one of my bombs accidentally lit, so I hurled it. I didn't expect you to be right there."

"I-It's fine, Gokudera," Tsuna stuttered, more stunned than angry. "Just don't play around with bombs."

The grey-haired teen nodded enthusiastically and thrust out an upward-pointed thumb. "You got it, Tenth!" He glanced behind Tsuna then switched his gaze back to his boss and friend. "I'll go clean up the mess I made, you should hurry to school and get someone to treat that scratch on your forehead."

Tsuna stared up at his forehead, but to no avail. "Yeah, I'll go ahead first then," he announced before rushing off to school. "I'll see you in a bit, Gokudera."

After Tsuna's back was only a small dot, Gokudera headed for the waning cloud of smoke. When the uplifted dust cleared, Gokudera glared at what he hit. He examined the darkened body, rolling it onto its stomach for examination. On the black back was a plate of metal carved into the shape of a curled up dragon.

Gokudera clicked his tongue in disgust and wiped his dirty hands on the legs of his pants. "Medici…" he grumbled.

"So, Gokudera, you've caught the first subordinate that's come back for Yuki."

The Storm Guardian looked across the body at the Arcobaleno in front of him. "Reborn? What do you mean by the first?"

"Stop pretending to be stupid and think a little, Gokudera," Reborn answered as he took a picture of the insignia and body with camera-Leon.

After reassessing the situation, Gokudera lit up in realization. "The Medici are trying to recapture that woman by using the Tenth!" he yelled out, smashing a fist onto his palm.

Reborn nodded, "Correct. Gokudera, even though you want to, don't tell Tsuna about this incident. If you scare him more than is necessary, he might act recklessly."

"The Tenth would never act recklessly!" Gokudera defended, challenging the infant's words.

Leon turned into a gun and Reborn aimed it at Gokudera, eyes shaded by his fedora. The Storm Guardian's face reconstructed into shock as the baby pulled the trigger. Gokudera closed his eyes and instead of feeling the piercing pain of a bullet, he heard a thump and turned around. On the floor, an infant wearing a helmet and suit started to push himself up.

"You! You're that Calcassa kid!" Gokudera exclaimed. He readied his dynamites in hand. "What are you doing here?" he snapped, "Trying to put the mafia in a war again like at the park?"

"I'm an Arcobaleno!" the child squeaked, "You can't scare me with those lame bombs!"

Reborn whacked Skull on the back of the head with Leon. "Even if his bombs are lame, you have no right to disrespect anyone related to the Vongola," Reborn lectured. "And aren't you the idiot that was scared by the party gun-Leon?"

Skull rubbed the sore-spot that had somehow seeped through his biker helmet. "R-Reborn-sempai?" he exclaimed, staring at the Sun Arcobaleno. "When did you get here?"

Without hesitation, Reborn gave Skull another hit to the head. "Idiot, you should always expect me to be everywhere. Haven't you learned that by now? Anyways, why are you here?"

The abused baby averted his gaze to the floor. "I was summoned to Namimori for a business meeting so I thought I'd stop by," he answered, "The summon was from _her_."

Reborn gave no hint of his surprise and turned to the idling and dumb-founded Gokudera. "Won't you be late if you don't hurry?" Reborn asked, "What kind of right-hand man would you be if you can't even be punctual?"

Gokudera's eyes widened and he looked up at the sun, quickly calculating the time. Then, without another word, he dashed to school in a mad sweat.

"So," Reborn started, watching as the teenager became a speck in the distance, "what did Madam Luche say?"

"She told me to bring you back to Italy," Skull answered. Reborn glared at Skull and the purple-clad baby quickly added, "Just for a while, Reborn-sempai! She said you could return after the 'problem' was resolved!"

"What problem would that be?" Reborn questioned.

Skull looked around him, scanning for unwanted ears. "The problem known as the sudden addition of the Vongola's Snow Guardian."

"I see," Reborn's eyes hid under his fedora and he turned towards his living residence. "Go early and tell her I'll arrive within the week. I don't know which day exactly, but I'll be there. Don't forget any of that, understood?"

The Cloud Arcobaleno saluted, "U-Understood, Reborn-sempai!"

"If you understand, then why are you still here?"

Skull blanked and then rushed away before Reborn could hit him again.

* * *

The head prefect patrolled the school grounds, in particular, the gates. As he neared one entrance, he stopped. "You, you're that girl from Kokuyo Middle School, aren't you? What are you doing here? Ditching school is prohibited by the law."

"There's something I need to do," the girl answered. She felt no fear from having to confront the strongest student in Namimori Middle School.

"And just for this excuse I should allow you to continue your act of truancy and enter the school's grounds?" Hibari questioned, glaring at her from his side of the gate. "I should be reporting you for such actions."

The purple-eyed girl diverted her gaze for a second but looked back up at the head prefect, clutching a trident tightly in her hands. "You let that woman from yesterday in, didn't you?"

"Woman? What wo—" Hibari only let his surprise reveal itself for a glimpse. Then, his shock morphed into anger, fueled by his desire to kill. "I see, you mean _that_ woman." He cast the Kokuyo student one last glance before turning for the school doors to search for his new prey. "I won't allow anyone to disturb my school's peace. If anyone does, I _will_ bite them to death."

The girl nodded as the gate slowly slid open. "Understood." Then, she ran onto campus and into the school building. As she did so, the bell rung, signaling the end of class, and a few students wandered out of their classrooms to stretch.

"Boss is a second year…" she mumbled aloud as she looked at classroom numbers, one after the other. Her wandering drew the attention of the students that started whispering about the girl already.

"Look at that, she's wearing an eye patch, is that even allowed at school?"

"What's a Kokuyo student doing at Namimori anyways?"

"Her hair looks funny…"

"Isn't that a weapon?"

"Where's the disciplinary committee when you need them?"

The girl ignored the remarks going on around her and pressed onwards until she reached the second-year classrooms. She slowed her pace and looked in from window to window until she found a mess of chestnut brown between short black and chin-length silver. She slid open the door to the classroom and all eyes turned to her as she walked over the brown-haired boy she saw from outside the classroom.

When she stopped at the desk, all three of the boys looked up at her. The black grinned, the silver scowled, and the brown paled with shock.

"Boss, I need to speak with you," she announced. The silent room stared at the mess of brown, not believing what they were hearing.

The brown mess glanced around the room, breaking out into a sweat and gave a look of askance to silver which was layered with the desire for advice. The silver-haired boy sullenly made a gesture with his head towards the door and sighed. "Just make sure Tenth makes it back unharmed, got that _girl_?"

She nodded and gave a small bow, "Thank you."

"See you later, Tsuna," the black smiled as he waved good-bye to his friend.

"L-Let's go, Chrome," Tsuna whispered loudly in his panic and shock. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her outside of the classroom while whooping erupted from the boys in the room. Tsuna led Chrome to the roof, zig-zagging between clusters of students.

When they finally reached the roof, Tsuna stopped. He turned to face Chrome and started to scratch his cheek nervously. "So, what's wrong, Chrome?" he asked. The only thing the girl did was look down at her wrist, which was still in the grasp of her boss.

Tsuna yelped and let go immediately and turned red. "S-Sorry!" he apologized, "I didn't mean to hold on for that long."

Chrome ignored his reaction and touched a finger to Tsuna's forehead. There was a small spark and Tsuna rubbed the short jolt of pain away from his head.

"Chrome, why—"

"Boss, please close your eyes," she interrupted. Tsuna did as he was told and he found himself surrounded by darkness. Within moments, a tiny light appears and Tsuna wanders towards it. As he does so, a stream of images run past him like a film roll and Tsuna watches the movie play before him.

No detail escapes from his eyes as he sees the filming scroll by. A girl and a boy are enjoying peaceful moments in a meadow. Then shadows and death plague the scene, ending with the boy engulfed in darkness and the girl left alone, sobbing.

Tsuna opened his eyes after the movie stopped playing. "Was Mukuro—"

Chrome shook her head, vision beginning to blur, but she forced any tears behind her eyes before they could fall. "I'm not sure," she answered. "But, I do know Master Mukuro is in trouble. I can't connect with him right now and usually when he's in trouble, he won't allow us to connect. Boss, I want to make sure he's okay. Will you please help me?"

Tsuna bit his lip. He looked up at the sky then back to Chrome, whose eyebrows were naught with pain and sorrow. "I'll help," he sighed. It was dangerous and probably concerned the mafia, but he just couldn't let Chrome suffer.

Chrome felt her knees give out under her and tears of joy rolled down her cheek. "Thank you," she cried, wiping at the water with her tears. "Thank you so much, Boss."

The teen looked from right to left, biting his lip, not knowing what to do, so he followed his instinct and knelt beside her, patting her back. When purple eyes looked up at amber, he withdrew his hand. "I don't think I'll be able to get help from the Family in Italy because he's a villain, so…I guess I'll have to go to Italy," Tsuna thought aloud. "I don't know my way around the country and I don't know how to speak the language either…and…and…Mukuro is important to you! So…so…will you go to Italy with me as a guide?"

Chrome nodded and felt a bit of happiness surge through her. She wasn't used to acts of kindness or caring from anyone other than Mukuro and another wave of happy tears escaped her eyelids once again. "Thank you…thank you," she repeated.

* * *

(Italy)

"Sir, we have lost contact with the operatives that we sent out to capture Test Subject 0-G24," a man dressed in a suit informed his boss, who sat behind a black desk with reading glasses perched on the bridge of his nose and papers in his hands.

"Have you informed the boss of their failure?" the man asked. He switched the papers he held in his hands with another while scratching his scalp covered by wiry dark brown hair.

The subordinate shook his head, "No, Sir, I haven't."

"Good, then we may have some time to fix things before he goes on a rampage. Send out the trained operatives and some of the new droids."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

"What? You're going to Italy?" Gokudera screamed. Outside of Tsuna's house, birds took flight.

Tsuna flinched and rubbed his ears in pain. "I-I'm not going alone!" He told his worrying guardian. "C-Chrome's coming, too. She's going to be my guide."

Gokudera felt a stab at hearing this for the second time. "But, Tenth! That girl is related to _him_! It could just be a trap for him to possess you!"

Tsuna glanced down at the suitcase in front of him that was full of his necessities. "I-I don't think so…When I was talking to Chrome, something told me she wasn't lying. She was genuinely worried about Mukuro. And while he may be a killer to us, he is her savior, and Chrome is part of the Family! We should help her when she's in need of it!"

"You're making excuses to convince yourself to go!" Gokudera shouted, "If you don't want to go, then don't! I'll go instead—"

_Bang!_

"You're all getting annoying, quit your shouting," Yuki growled, holding the Russian Roulette gun in her hands. She walked up to Tsuna and put a hand on his shoulder. "If you need to go to Italy, then I'll accompany you as well. Even though that girl, your _Guardiano di Nebbia_, can speak a bit Italian, I can speak the language fluently. While we're there, I'll be able to protect you from harm and from the girl if she decides to turn on you." Dark memories replayed in Yuki's mind, but she held back her shudder for the sake of being strong for her new boss.

Gokudera clicked his tongue before adding, "If you're going, then we all are. I'll tell everyone of the plan and arrange a flight schedule to Italy." He walked to the door, grumbling about losing to an old lady.

"I'll convince Maman for you, alright?" Yuki offered with a small smile. "So you don't need to worry about Maman saying no, just rest quietly and soundly."

Tsuna couldn't help but smile back, "Thank you, Yuki-san!"

The image of Tsuna in front of her was replaced with Giotto before reverting to the teenage boy. "It's no problem at all," she answered as she headed for the door. "For now, just rest." As she walked through the doorway, she pulled the door closed behind her.

She let out a sigh and lids covered her eyes as she lay her head against the wood door.

"You shouldn't relax on the job and here is definitely not the best place to relax," Reborn lectured. Yuki turned her attention to the baby.

"Is there something you need?" There was a hint of bitterness in her voice that she hadn't intended.

Reborn tipped his fedora. "The Medici came and attempted an attack on Tsuna today," the baby explained, "Gokudera and I suspect that they were tying to use Tsuna as bait to lure you out of hiding and then capture you."

The news hardly phased Yuki. "I see…Then I'll watch over him more carefully," she thought aloud.

"This is not only a matter of watching over him more carefully," Reborn stated, looking up at Yuki. "This is a direct threat to the Vongola's family. Any harm being done to the Underworld, if not in direct correlation to the mafia, is then removed as immediately as possible by the Vendiche. But they haven't done anything as of yet, for all we know, they could have struck a deal with the Vendiche. The whole Vongola Family is in danger of going to war with the Medici. Tsuna _is_ the heir to the Vongola's throne whether he likes it or not; any Family or individual that tries to harm a hair on him—let alone capture him—will find themselves at the bottom of the sea."

"Then what do you propose we do, Reborn?" Yuki asked the infant.

Reborn tipped his fedora again. "When we leave for Italy, I have to attend a meeting I absolutely cannot miss. So, if the Medici attack all of you while I'm gone, I won't be there to do anything, not that I can due to the promise I swore to the Ninth. While the other six Guardians watch and protect Tsuna, you'll need to destroy the threat. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Yuki whispered. Then, almost immediately, she turned around and swung Tsuna's door open. Inside, Tsuna's room was a wreck and broken glass littered the floor. Tsuna was bound by robot arms, slightly elevated off the ground.

Yuki's eyes widened at the sight of the silver android that had trapped the teenager. "Boss!" she quickly and quietly assessed the situation before rushing in. She reached for the gun at her side and aimed it at the metal contraption. When she pulled the trigger, however, a small flag exited the opening.

Yuki stared at the failure in her hands before throwing it to the ground. "You've got to be kidding me!" she growled. Her captive boss paled, losing the hope of being rescued.

"_You're the Snow Guardian of the Vongola. Prove it with that power only you possess…"_

"Even without a weapon…I will protect the Vongola's boss!" Yuki yelled. A silvery flame sparked from the ring that then spread and engulfed her entire right hand. She charged towards the droid, grabbing its "head" with her flaming hand while pulling her boss from its clutches with her left hand. Her fingers dug into the metallic flesh and crushed the robot.

There was no explosion, but the droid had been crushed like an aluminum can and was encased in ice. The act left Yuki panting, but she didn't let her weariness get to her. She lifted the frozen metal into the air and kicked it. The robot shattered into pieces of scrap metal that glittered as it exploded. In the coming orange glow of the sunset, the falling ice shards shone around Yuki, giving the guardian a surreal presence. Her right hand was still burning with a cold, silver flame.

She turned, staring at Tsuna with her blind eye and her good eye. The fire on her hand slowly burned out and the cold hand touched Tsuna's warm cheek. "Are you alright?" she asked, controlling her breathing.

Tsuna's eyebrows furrowed in worry as he nodded; he noticed her attempt at trying to hide the pain and exhaustion that had suddenly taken her and did not like it.

Yuki smiled, "Good…then I'll just rest for a short…while…" Then she collapsed over Tsuna's shoulder. The teenage boy used all the strength he could muster in his frail arms to support her so that she wouldn't fall. He dragged his feet and Snow Guardian to the bed in the corner of the room and set her down as best he could. Even after much pulling and turning, Tsuna could only rest two-thirds of the tired protector on the bed.

"R-Reborn…that was…was that Zero Point Breakthrough?" Tsuna asked the mafia baby as the infant inspected the scrap pieces of the droid.

"It's a little different from Primo's, the Ninth's, and yours but yes, it was," Reborn answered as he picked up a scrap that held the Medici's emblem. Reborn stuffed the piece of metal into his coat before hopping onto Tsuna's shoulder. "She's tired, so let her rest for now. We'll talk about what happened just now later with Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Ryohei. Fix the window, do some homework, then come down and eat when Maman is done cooking."

"O-Okay…" Tsuna answered as Reborn jumped off the boy's shoulder and onto the bed. Then Tsuna left to get tape and paper to cover the glassless window.

Reborn stared at Yuki, no emotion expressed on his face. He just watched as the Snow Guardian slept without a single movement. "This has turned out to be problematic as you said, Madam Luche," the infant whispered aloud.

* * *

"_Yuki…Yuki…"_

_She opened her eyes to damp, musky darkness with the exception of a small orange flame in the distance. Without hesitation, she approached the fire, a heat that could melt the cold that she was feeling._

"_Yuki!"_

_When she had reached the light that had seemed so distant, she felt a chill run through her body rather than the warmth she was hoping for. In front of her, the dying flame was on the forehead of a blond Italian man. Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth and a giant red-brown stain spread like deadly rose petals over his heart. In the center of the flower was a hole that went straight through his chest._

_Yuki stared at the man then down at her hands. They were covered in blood and tiny bits of flesh were stuck under her finger nails. She tried to wipe the crimson hands clean on her clothes, but pale skin cleared off, revealing more blood._

"_No…No! No!" she frantically scrubbed her arms on her shirt, but the blood spread. In front of her, the flame grew dimmer and dimmer. Bright blue eyes lost their magical glow. The man fell to his knees and then his body hit the floor. Yuki watched in horror as she took a step toward him and found herself falling, looking up at a pair of two round windows revealing a lifeless blue sky. The blue sky clouded and drops of red raced her to the bottomless end, falling as the sky's tears and dying her dark and bloody._

_She took her eyes away from the windows and looked downwards at sharp stalactites protruding from an almost welcoming dark haze. Her eyes shut tight as she waited for the pain to pierce her body and kill her for her betrayal._

* * *

"No!" Yuki screamed, breaking out of a cold sweat as she forced herself to sit. Around her was darkness. She searched the dark and scrunched her eyes tight to block out the darkness, but dead eyes and red rain wouldn't leave her peace even in her own mind. "No! No! No!" she yelled out repetitively.

Her frozen shoulder was touched by a warm hand. "Yuki-san?" a soft voice called out to her.

She turned at the dreaded sound of her name, the name that led her down the path of a ruthless, motiveless murderer. "No!" she screamed again. Her roaring of terror was cut short when arms wrapped around the back of her neck and a pair of hands soothed her gently, stroking her back.

"It's alright," the soft voice assured her. "You were just having a nightmare. You're fine, you're safe. It was just a dream."

Yuki's wide eyes saw a wild mess of brown next to her and tears streamed down her cheeks. She buried her face in the small width of the shoulder in front of her and squeezed the boy back with shaking arms.

The mess of brown was taken aback, but his shock was replaced by a gentle understanding. "You're safe here. Don't worry."

Yuki's arms lost its tension and her body became a weight once more. Amber eyes glanced at the protector that was now in peaceful slumber. Her exhausted body was gently laid on the bed and covered by a blanket.

"Sweet dreams, Yuki-san…"

* * *

_A gentle breeze swept through the grassy hills and two kids fell into the grass, laughing._

"_Isn't the air nice in the Italian countryside?" the blond boy asked his companion as he watched clouds pass by in the sky. "It feels good, right?"_

_His companion smiled, closing her eyes as she took in the fresh scent. "Yeah," she agreed._

_The boy turned onto his stomach and stared at the girl. He poked her cheek. "Hey, don't fall asleep here…I can't carry you back home, you're too heavy."_

_The girl glared up at a pair of eye as blue as the sky itself. "It's more like you aren't strong enough," she grumbled._

_He laughed with a smile so bright that it could compete with the sun._

"_Today's my last free day before they put me into a long timeout again," the girl sighed as she sat up. "I…I don't want it to be though…it's really fun to play with you, Giotto, and timeout is really boring. I'm not allowed outside and people aren't allowed to visit. I don't like it one bit…"_

_The smile slowly faded away from Giotto's face, but then reappeared after a plan came to mind. "While you're in timeout, I'll secretly visit you. And when your timeout is over, we'll play again like today. So, don't be so sad. Sadness leads to a bad ending. Happiness leads to a good ending and long life. You'll see when the day that you're allowed to go outside again comes. So right now, let's make happy memories that you can remember while you wait for me to visit, okay?"_

_A smile appeared on the girl's face and she nodded. "Thank you." Then she gave him a short, small kiss on the cheek._

_The blond boy blushed, touching his cheek. "I thought Japanese people didn't do this custom."_

"_But you do in Italy, right? It's my 'thank you' for making me not think of this timeout as a really bad thing." The girl stood up, a few strands of stray grass being swept off her back by the wind. "So, what will we do today?"_

"_Explore," Giotto smiled._

* * *

_End Chapter Four_

_Thanks for reading this chapter! ^^_

_I'm very grateful._

_Reviews are welcome._


	5. Chapter Five: Flight Plans

_Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn; credit goes to Akira Amano._

* * *

_**Flight Plans**_

"Italy? I've never been, but after playing the mafia game for so long, I've wanted to go!" Yamamoto laughed.

Gokudera, who had explained the reasoning for going to Italy, watched with irritation as the baseball-crazed teenager played off the mission as a game. Tsuna stared at the reaction of the two with a mixture of dread and discomfort.

"Anyways, who else will be going? I need to get the flight plans ready as soon as possible so it's now or never," Gokudera questioned the gathered students.

"That sounds extremely awesome, Octopus-Head!"

The Storm Guardian glared at the third year that had made the last remark. "It's not Octopus-Head, Lawn-Hair!"

"You herbivores are actually considering ditching school to play in Italy?" Hibari questioned the boys, glaring at them with cold hostility from the doorway, blocking the exit.

Tsuna tensed, but Gokudera had somehow found courage to argue with the disciplinary leader.

"The Tenth wants to go because he cares about his Family! And as Guardians, it's our job to protect the Tenth from harm! How could we do that if the Tenth is almost halfway across the world in Italy and we're in Japan?" When Gokudera didn't get any reaction from Hibari, he added, "If you want someone to blame for the absences, you can blame that Chrome girl! She's the one who went begging the Tenth for help."

Hibari's gaze flickered to where Gokudera's thumb pointed towards. The illusion hanging by the fence flickered away, revealing Tsuna's Mist Guardian. "So you've come back again?"

"I'm sorry," she apologized meekly, still grasping her trident for her life.

"That weapon…" Hibari eyeed the sleek black shaft and the shining silver fork at the end. "Doesn't it belong to Rokudou Mukuro?"

Chrome nodded, "Master Mukuro gave this to me for me to protect myself."

"'Master'?" The prefect turned his attention back to the pack of herbivores gathered in front of him. "Are you all going to Italy because of this girl's 'Master'?"

Tsuna swallowed the lump in his throat, but didn't dare face the demonic senior that stood behind him. "Y-Yeah, we're going to check on Mukuro for a bit so Chrome can be assured of his safety…" He quickly added, "But we'll come back to school right afterwards, so it'll only take two or three days!"

A smile with evil intent graced Hibari's lips. "Really? Then to make sure you herbivores keep you word, I'll come along, too, then."

The brunette paled and turned to face the disciplinary head to make sure he wasn't joking—no, lying.

"Alright then, that makes eight tickets to Italy," Gokudera grumbled, calculating the expensive trip in his head.

Yamamoto let out a hearty laugh, "Great! The more the merrier!"

"That's extremely great news to hear, Hibari!" Ryohei roared.

Gokudera pulled at his hair after figuring out the cost. "Now that that's settled, about housing…because it's such short notice and we'll only be there a few days, we shouldn't bother the Ninth about sparing a few rooms at the head quarters, not to mention there's the problem of the Varia and Xanxus. So, I'll see if I can get some hotel rooms."

"What about Dino?" Tsuna suggested. "We could ask him to lend us a few rooms for a while and it'd make the trip less expensive."

"That's a great idea, Tsuna!" Yamamoto smiled, "And we can probably get a free breakfast, too."

The brunette nodded, happy that he made a good decision.

"If the Tenth says it's a good idea, then I'll go along with it," Gokudera agreed. "I don't have the Bucking Bronco's number though, so I'm sorry but, you'll have to do it, Tenth." The words reflecting failure stabbed Gokudera, sending a pang of pain through his body.

"Ah, o—"

"I'll do it," Hibari interrupted as he took out a cellphone from his pocket. All faces turned to Hibari in shock, with the exception of Chrome, who did not understand what was entirely going on. He hit the "3" button on the pad and put the receptor next to his ear as the dial tone sung out Dino's cellphone number.

Everyone waited in silence and even Hibari's pet bird had come to perch on Hibari's shoulder absolutely silent.

"Hello? …Yes…If you don't stop talking, I'll hang-up," Hibari threatened. Tsuna stared at Hibari, jaw-dropped. His thought train ran along the track: _He's the one who called, but he's still threatening to hang-up?_

"I have a request; I'll be coming to Italy very soon, so could you get a few rooms prepared at your mansion when we get there? … … …I'm not running away… …I'm not moving… … …Sawada has business in Italy, and I just so happen to be traveling with him; that's all. … …I don't joke." Then he shut the handheld, slipping it back into his pocket.

"Housing is all set," Hibari announced. "If there's nothing else to talk about, then all of you need to get back to class or you'll be serving detention after school."

"Y-Yes, Hibari, sir!" Tsuna saluted before rushing back to class, who was followed by Gokudera. Yamamoto laughed as he followed the two next to Ryohei, who was excitedly talking about boxing and experiencing a boxing fight in Italy like it would be vacation.

"Although you don't go to this school, it would still be wise not to disturb me," Hibari announced as Chrome stared at the prefect. Although her eyes and face were unreadable, Hibari could still predict her thoughts and feelings.

"I'd like to thank you for helping Boss and for helping me ensure Master Mukuro's safety, Cloud Guardian."

Hibari closed his eyes but kept his tonfa gripped in hand. "Don't call me by such a strange name. My name is Hibari Kyouya, not Cloud Guardian. And I'm not doing this for you, girl, I just need a prey that will excite me when I get bored and need something to teethe on."

"If I call you by your name, please call me by mine, Chrome Doukuro. Master Mukuro and Boss are both important to me. And although it's not your intention to help me, you still are, so I feel that I must thank you."

"Get back to Kokuyo Middle before I make you," Hibari threatened.

Chrome slowly stood up straight and gave a short bow to Hibari before running off the roof and off campus.

* * *

(After School)

"I'm home!" Tsuna called as he entered his house. He took a few steps in and saw his mother at the dining table with Yuki sitting right next to her. He cast Yuki a confused glance, but walked over. "Is something wrong, Mom?"

Nana looked up at her child, a sad smile on her face. "Tsu-kun, I heard about everything from Yuki-san."

A cold shiver ran up Tsuna's spine as his thoughts exploded in his mind, making him sweat. "W-What do you mean, Mom?"

She sighed, "I'm so disappointed. Why didn't you tell me earlier, Tsu-kun? I would understand and it would have made things so much easier."

Tsuna gulped before spilling out the guilty feelings in his throat. Tears escaped the corner of his eyes as he confessed, "I-I just didn't want to worry you, Mom! It's kind of dangerous and I…I—"

Nana's smile softened to that of an angel and took her sobbing boy in her arms. "It's alright, Tsuna. But next time you want to go to Italy to help Yuki find her lost friend, you should say so a week in advance! It'll be hard, but I'll see if your father and I can get the money in time for your trip."

Tsuna's tears stopped flowing, almost instantly and he looked over at Yuki from over his Mom's shoulder. The Snow Guardian replied with a smile and a thumbs-up. Then, Tsuna gently pulled himself out of his mother's hug, blushing. He was embarrassed that he almost blew the mafia secret on his own. "About the ticket, it's alright, Mom. Gokudera won four tickets to Italy in a street lottery, so he's taking Yuki-san, Yamamoto, and me with him."

"Oh, really? Then, please congratulate Gokudera for me," she smiled. Then she headed for the kitchen, "I'm going to make dinner now before Lambo and Yi-Pin get too hungry, alright? You should start getting packed."

"Y-Yeah," Tsuna nodded. He glanced at Yuki, who had a smug smile plastered on her face.

"I told you I would convince her," she grinned.

Tsuna smiled back, "Yeah, you did." Then, he started for the staircase but stopped before even setting foot of the first step. "Um, Yuki-san…"

"Yes?"

"About last night…are you okay now?" Tsuna bit his lower lip when his reply was silence. "Actually, you don't need to tell me," he quickly added, "It's personal business, so I shouldn't be snooping around in the first—"

He stopped, interrupted by the feeling of a pair of cold arms wrapped around his neck. They sent shivers down his back, but at the same time soothed him. "Thank you for last night and for asking. I'm grateful for your concern," she whispered. When she removed her arms, she placed her hands on each of his shoulders and turned him so that they faced each other. "I'm fine now though, so you don't need to worry anymore. Just get packing for the trip, okay?"

Tsuna saw sadness in her eyes, but accepted her words and suggestion. "O-Okay, call me if you need anything…"

"Of course, little Tuna, but you need to do the same for me as well, understood?" she smiled.

"Yeah," Tsuna nodded. He felt anxiety knot his stomach; he didn't want to leave Yuki alone when she looked like she was in pain, but he didn't want to make the situation worse either.

"Don't just stand there like a no-good idiot, get moving!" she shooed him away with a smile. Tsuna gave one last nod in compliance before running up the staircase.

"Never doubt the Vongola Hyper Intuition," Reborn remarked from behind her, "especially when your mask is so poorly made."

Yuki turned, giving him a short irritated glance. "I know." Reborn smirked, tipping his fedora over his face and Yuki left the hitman alone in the dining room.

* * *

(Next Day, Namimori Airport)

"Be careful in Italy, Tsu-kun, and try not to get into any trouble, okay?" Nana smiled as she hugged her child.

"I got it already, Mom, but could you stop hugging me now?" Tsuna whispered as he pushed his mother away. "It's embarrassing," he mumbled, scratching his messy brown hair.

She smiled understandingly. "My little Tsu-kun has gotten too old for a mother's hug, hasn't he?"

Tsuna blushed, "A-Anyways, I'll call you when I land in Italy, okay?"

Nana nodded and began waving as Tsuna made his way through the airport doors.

As soon as the brunette entered the airport's premises, he was attacked by an overly excited and happy Gokudera. "I can't believe I get to fly with the Tenth!" he practically announces to everyone at the airport. Yamamoto, who followed behind Gokudera at a slower pace with both of their suitcases, had his goofy signature smile on his face and chuckled.

"You look like you're having fun already before we get there!" Yamamoto laughed.

The glass doors slid open and Chrome came in with a duffel bag over her shoulder, accompanied by Ken and Chikusa. Gokudera instantly changed from an ecstatic dog to a hissing cat. "Look you, there aren't enough tickets for Mukuro's pet dogs!"

"Che! Like we _want_ to go on the same plane as you Vongola weaklings!" Ken scoffed. "We only followed this woman here because Master Mukuro would have wanted us to escort her. It's only for his sake!"

"Ken, calm down," Chikusa warned, "We're in public."

"I know that already," he snapped. He turned to Tsuna and his friends, "Anyways, we're leaving her in your care, so you had better make sure she doesn't get hurt. If she comes back unable to communicate with Master Mukuro any longer, we'll hunt you down, got that?"

Tsuna gulped, nodding over-enthusiastically. Ken smirked before heading for the door with triumph and idiotic happiness written all over his face.

"Be sure to tell us what happens," Chikusa reminded Chrome as he followed Ken.

The girl gave a short nod, watching as Mukuro's subordinates left the airport. Then she turned to Tsuna, Yamamoto, and Gokudera. "Thank you once again for helping me," she bowed.

The brunette felt his face redden and he stuttered, "S-Stop that!"

Chrome glanced up at her boss's embarrassed expression before deciding to stand straight.

"You shouldn't crowd the entrance." Hibari had just strolled into the airport with only a book bag—his carry-on luggage. "Where's that loud boxer?" he asked, scanning the present faces.

As if on cue, Ryohei came running in with a duffel bag and a rolling suitcase. "I'm extremely sorry I'm late!" he apologized as he got close to the group.

Hibari glanced at each face before looking up at the clock hanging at a luggage check-in service desk. "There is some business I need to conduct before we leave. I'll board the plane on my own, so there's no need to look for me for when you herbivores are ready to leave." Then, the prefect walked off, leaving the other students where they stood.

"Where's that Medici woman?" Gokudera mumbled.

Yamamoto looked at Gokudera with his happy smile, "I was wondering where Yuki-san has been for a while now, too."

"Yuki-san said that she was going to prepare her own flying arrangements, so we should go on without her," Tsuna explained.

Gokudera's twisted face smoothed out perfectly and he smiled at Tsuna. "Then let's get all our luggage dropped off and get some dinner before we board the plane, is that okay, Tenth?"

"Ah, y-yeah," the brunette nodded.

* * *

(Airport Security Check)

"Ma'am, you can't board the plane holding that…trident…" The security guard sighed, "Anyways, it's not allowed. If you want to bring it, you'll—"

Chrome interrupted the man and begged, "Please, I need to hold on to this. Without it, I won't be able to feel connected to someone precious to me. Right now he's missing and this is my only link to him. Please…"

The security guard looked at the other stations and then at his partner, who was watching him while scanning the x-ray screens. His partner shrugged and the security guard turned back to Chrome, cheeks slightly reddened and touched tears streaming down his face. "I understand, but can you let go of the trident just for the metal detector walkthrough?"

The dark-haired girl nodded before setting the trident down for a moment and walking through the arch. When there was no blaring alarm that came after, she quickly took up her trident and hurried to where Tsuna was waiting for the rest of his friends, meaning Gokudera and Hibari, who had rejoined them at security check.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but could you go through the metal detector again? This time without any of your belt or rings on," the security guard in lane two requested.

Gokudera glared at the security guard before dropping all of the items in a bin and walked through the archway. This time, the fifth time through the same procedure, there was no beeping. "Is that good enough for you?" he snapped, angry that he was wasting time here and leaving Tsuna unguarded with a woman he didn't trust and two sports-crazed idiots several yards away.

The guard manning the metal detector opened his mouth to call for the next person in line, but the woman at the x-ray machine interrupted before any sound came out.

"Sir, why is this child in your carry-on luggage?" the woman asked, holding up a cow-suited boy with an afro composed of hair, old candy, and a pair of horns in the air.

"Aho-dera, the great Lambo is hungry. Go get Lambo some food right now," the child ordered the silver-haired teen, whose face paled.

"Oi! Stupid cow! I'm not getting you anything!" Gokudera yelled.

"Sir, why is there a child in your belongings? First of all, it's inhumane to let a child suffer in such a small bag. Second of all, he needs a ticket to get on the plane," the woman interrupted.

"Shut up, Ugly!" Gokudera growled. "Listen here you stupid broccoli-monster cow! I'm not your servant! If you want food wait until after we pass security and just get it yourself!"

At this point in time, Lambo started to cry from his hunger. "Aho-dera! Lambo is hungry! Lambo is hungry! Lambo is hungry! Give Lambo food now!"

Gokudera shouted at Lambo, whose sobs only got louder and more irritating. The people behind Gokudera stared impatiently.

"If you don't hurry up, I'll bite you to death," Hibari threatened from his place in line.

"Don't blame me!" Gokudera snapped, "Blame this Stupid Cow!"

"Please let them go through."

All heads turned to the owner of the high-pitched voice.

"My name is Professor Boreen. These two trouble-makers are students of mine that wanted to attempt something stupid like this although I advised them not to," As the infant-sized professor spoke, he took out a ticket from his jacket pocket, "I have the child's ticket with me because I knew their plan wouldn't work. Please excuse them for their trouble and allow them into the terminal."

"Uh…yes…sir," the woman nodded before setting Lambo onto the floor. Gokudera snatched his bag from the conveyer belt and led the toddler to where a pale Tsuna stood waiting and a disguised Reborn stood.

"Next," the metal detector security guard called.

Hibari loaded his book bag onto the conveyer belt and threw his Vongola ring into the basket as well. He walked through the metal detector and it beeped. The security guard looked the thin, uniformed prefect over. "Sir, do you have any other metal on you?"

Namimori's disciplinary head glared up at the man before producing a pair of steel tonfa in another bin from his sleeves. He walked through the metal detector again and there was no sound.

"Weapons are not allowed on board the plane," the security guard reminded the student.

"They are merely for self-defense," he explained, face as stoic and cold as the security guard's.

The security guard shook his head with an amused smile. "That's not a good excuse and there will be no need for any weapons of self-defense because we make sure that no one that can harm the public and passengers is allowed beyond this point."

"My job is to baby-sit weaklings, you _will_ let me board with these."

The security guard opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off once again. This time, by the manager of the airport, "Is that Hibari Kyouya?"

The prefect smiled and gave a short bow to the man, "It's good to see you again, Ms. Amano."

"Is there something wrong?" she asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"This student was planning on boarding the plane with weapons, Ms. Amano," the security guard answered, head lowered.

She covered her mouth in thought, "Well that's not good…"

The security guard smiled and shot Hibari a glare that was fueled by a self-proclaimed victory.

"Please allow this student entrance on the plane," Ms. Amano ordered. The man looked up in shock, switching his attention from her serious face to Hibari's smirk.

"B-But—"

"Hibari Kyouya has clocked in many hours to keep this airport safe while balancing his student-life and other jobs as a guardian of Namimori perfectly. Therefore, I find it understandable that he bring weapons of self-defense—no, of public safety—onto the plane. Please make an exception for this fine student. If not, I'll need to have a talk with Head of Security."

The man was close to a break-down. He felt his power slip away from him. "U-Understood, Ma'am," he submitted.

Hibari continued through to the terminal, not stopping to reunite with the party he was "baby-sitting" or sparing a glance or word for the group.

Tsuna felt his zeal lower tremendously as he realized and dreaded how long this flight was really going to be.

* * *

As Tsuna and his friends made it to the terminal, passengers are already boarding the plane. They followed the other riders at the end of the line and as they reached the plane's interior, they were greeted by several gathered flight attendants, each saying: "Hello, welcome aboard."

"Please enjoy your flight," a woman directed specifically towards Tsuna. The brunette looked up and saw the familiar face of his Snow Guardian hidden behind glasses. Her blind eye was covered by a contact lens—the same color as sapphire. Tsuna stared wide-eyed as Gokudera pulled him onto the plane and the "flight attendant" waved at the boy. Then she returned to her job: greeting the last straggling passengers as they boarded.

* * *

_End Chapter Five_

_Well, I suck at comedy, so I hope that the readers were at least slightly amused? ^^;_

_Ugh, well…whatever…_

_Thanks for reading, as always! ^^_

_Reviews welcome (especially for this chapter…)_


	6. Chapter Six: In the Air

_Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyou Hitman Reborn_

* * *

_**In the Air**_

"Sir, there is no smoking on this airplane!" a flight attendant smiled as Gokudera was about to light up. The silver-haired teen glared up at the woman, who, one could obviously see, hated her job.

The green-eyed teenager stuffed the cigarette back into its half-filled pack and left his seat and the woman for her to deal with the noisy carry-on that Gokudera had smuggled onto the plane.

"Hey, Ugly Woman, Lambo is hungry and Aho-dera left. Lambo wants food right now!"

The flight attendant could do nothing else but smile as she complied to the cow-suited child's "request".

"Uh…excuse me," Tsuna meekly interrupted the same flight attendant that had just visited Gokudera from continuing on her way to grab Lambo a bag of peanuts. She stopped, her smile still plastered on her face as she turned to the brunette teen.

"How may I help you?" she asked.

"Is it possible that I could get a seat change?" Tsuna asked. "Mine is kind of…cramped…" he explained, motioning to his rather large neighbors with his eyes due to lack of ability to move the rest of his head.

"Seating is final and we're on a full flight today," the attendant answered him in the most sugar-coated voice she could handle at the moment. "Unless another passenger would like to trade seats with you, we won't be able to move you. I'm sorry."

Tsuna paled and stuttered out a nervous, "I-I see…"

A man, fully dressed in a business suit, came up to Tsuna and the flight attendant. "I'd be happy to switch with you," the man smiled.

The brunette's face instantly lit up, "R-Really?"

He nodded as he handed Tsuna his plane ticket, "This is my seat. It's in first-class."

Tsuna couldn't believe his luck and although he was a bit weary of such great fortune, he couldn't afford to miss the opportunity to get out of his squished situation. "Thank you so much, sir," Tsuna smiled as he squeezed out from between his neighbors.

"No, no, no," the man smiled, "Thank _you_."

Tsuna grabbed his carry-on luggage and walked towards the front of the airplane.

"Hey, where are you going, Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked as he noticed the brunette pass by him in the aisle.

"I got a seat change," Tsuna explained.

The baseball-crazed teen laughed, "Is that so? Where to?"

"First-class," he smiled.

Yamamoto's expression morphed into surprise, "Really? You got one of the first-class seats, too?"

"Eh? Did you get one also, Yamamoto?" Tsuna asked, surprise also accumulating on his face.

He shook his head, "No, but the man next to me did, apparently a whole bunch of first class flyers are changing their seats because they were 'confiscated'."

Tsuna paled as his intuition hit him. "You don't think Hibari…'confiscated' the first-class seats, do you?"

Yamamoto started to laugh, "Hibari's the kind of guy to do that, isn't he?"

"So…do you think?"

"Maybe," the black-haired teen answered, his laughter reduced to a wide smile. "If it is, good luck getting any seat at all."

"Y-Yeah," Tsuna stuttered an agreement as he now warily made his way to the first-class cabin. As he reached the cabin, he found it relatively empty in the vicinity surrounding a certain black-haired prefect. The third-year was laid back in his seat, asleep, with a small yellow bird resting on his head. The brunette's eyes widened at seeing the small little bird, as pets were not allowed in the passenger cabin, before he drooped his head in dread at his intuition's sharpness.

"Sir, is there something wrong?"

Tsuna let out a sigh before turning to the flight attendant abashedly, eyes closed in sadness and embarrassment. "Yeah, I don't have a seat and there are no more open. My ticket says I'm seated next to that guy, but he's…'confiscated'…the chairs."

"Oh really? Allow me to handle this, Tuna."

The teen finally looked up at the attendant and saw two sapphire-blue eyes and a pair of glasses. In the "flight attendant's" hand was a gun—a gun stolen from the Medici. There was a click and the safety-lock was undone on the handheld weapon. "Ah! Y-Yuki-san! There's no need to do anything! If you wake Hibari up, it'll be even worse!"

"Then what are you going to do? You'll have no seat if we just leave him there."

"It's fine," Tsuna assured her. "I'll figure something out. You should get back to doing your job." He added even softer than his assurance, "And put away that gun. It's not allowed on the plane. If someone catches you with it, you'll get into big trouble."

"Alright, I understand," Yuki complied as she locked the gun and stowed it away up her sleeve. "But if any problems come up, be sure to call—" She stopped, covering a hand over her mouth.

"I-Is something wrong, Yuki-san?" Tsuna asked shyly.

Yuki shook her head vigorously even as her already pale skin lost the little color it had. "I'm going to the bathroom for a bit, just call me if you need something," she quickly reminded Tsuna before rushing to the bathroom at the front of the cabin. After fumbling with the door for a few seconds, Yuki finally stepped in and the door sealed behind her, locked.

Tsuna watched the scene with a nervous laugh at the all too familiar scene and hoped that he had finally gotten over airsickness.

"Silly Tsuna, don't you know better than to stand while the plane is in flight for no reason?" Reborn asked from the first-class right window seat close to economy class as he took a sip of his tea.

"Re—Professor Boreen! W-What are you—" Tsuna shouted, gathering the attention of several angry passengers. He stopped only when he realized the possibility that he might wake up Hibari. The teen peered over his shoulder and found Hibari—to his surprise—still sound asleep. Tsuna turned back to Reborn with a confused face but soft voice, "Professor Boreen, what are you doing over here?"

"I had first-class tickets, why would I now sit here, Silly Tsuna?" the disguised baby answered. "While you wait for Hibari to wake up so you can ask him for a seat, why don't you check on your Guardians and make sure they aren't causing too much trouble like a good boss should and would?"

Tsuna felt his color drain into a puddle at his feet. "I-Is this supposed to be training?"

"Regardless, you should check on your friends," the professor answered as he took another sip of his tea. "I suggest starting with Gokudera. I'm surprised the smoke detectors haven't gone off yet."

The brunette furrowed his eyebrows. Everything Reborn had said just made Tsuna more confused, but he headed back towards the economy seating cabins, scratching his head while he thought about what his tutor meant. His train of thought collapsed when he fell to the floor after bumping into someone. Tsuna rubbed his sore bottom and looked up at the person he hit. There was a line extended from the airplane's bathroom starting with Ryohei.

Tsuna stood up and walked up to Ryohei, trying his best to ignore the glares the waiting passengers gave him as he made his way up to the front of the bathroom line. "B-Bro? What's taking so long?"

"That stupid Octopus-head has been in the bathroom forever!" the boxer mumbled. His legs were crossed and he looked like he was about to explode. "Ever since that flight attendant lady caught him smoking…"

Reborn's words came flowing back to Tsuna and the dots connected. The boy felt his body grow cold from the realization and he knocked on the door.

"Uh…Gokudera?"

The Storm Guardian's voice answered back, muffled by the door and surprised, "T-Tenth? W-What is it? Do you need to use the restroom?"

"N-No, I don't, but other people do…What's taking so long?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all, Tenth!" Gokudera laughed. On the other side of the door, the silver-haired boy was frantically trying to find a way to capture the smoke that had accumulated from his burning cigarette that was now down the toilet bowl and on its way to land, imprisoned in a blue block, onto some unfortunate person's roof.

After he had somehow managed to clear away the smoke, he fixed the bathroom's smoke detector that he had "found" broken.

"Gokudera?"

The teenager became more frantic and straightened himself out as best as possible before finally opening the lavatory door. He was confronted with Tsuna's knitted eyebrows and a dying Ryohei. "H-Hi, Tenth. Well, I'm off to see how the Stupid Cow is holding up." Then the Storm Guardian rushed off to check on the toddler, who was actually sleeping with a bag of peanuts tucked in his bushy locks of hair.

The boxing captain rushed into the bathroom before an accident occurred and locked the door behind him.

Tsuna stared at the lavatory door before continuing through the plane to find Chrome.

It didn't take long before he found the girl surrounded by a small crowd of boys and even a few grown men. One seemed to be spilling his guts out in the form of spit as he laughed and spoke uncomfortably close to the teenage girl. Any conversation he tried to make with Chrome ended in failure; the girl's head was bent over and ignoring what was being said.

Tsuna felt like turning back in fear of the gathered people, all of whom were bigger than him, if not twice his size. But, he knew that if he didn't help her, she'd be harassed for the rest of the trip. He swallowed the lump in his throat that only seemed to remain lodged.

He closed his eyes as he took the first step. "H-Hey, you guys! Stop annoying h—" The clumsy teen tripped over his untied shoelace on his way down the aisle, averting the attention of the pack. They laughed at Tsuna as he pushed himself up.

"Look at this guy! Trying to be the hero even though he's a no good clutz!" the spitter snorted.

"I can't crying! It's just way too hilarious!" another added, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.

Tsuna stood up, rubbing his upper arm. He looked at the floor, face red, for a brief moment before he remembered why he was there. He forced himself to be brave and looked up at his opponents. "W-Whatever! Laugh at me all you want, just stop picking on her!"

"Aw, how cute, are you her boyfriend or something?" one of the men cackled.

"N-No!" As he cried out in defense of his Family, Tsuna tried to fight the pain that welled-up in his chest as he was mocked by the group. "But…but…She's an important friend of mine! There's no way I'd let her get hurt! Not to mention let her get annoyed by one of you creepy freaks!"

The atmosphere of the cabin suddenly took a dark turn and Tsuna had wished he hadn't included the last sentence in his speech. He gulped as he felt the pack make a uniform step towards him, all ready to pounce. Tsuna closed his eyes, waiting for the barrage of punches and the ache that was inevitable.

Before anything happened, they were on the ground out cold. The brunette opened his eyes to the scene of the men piled on top of each other and Chrome, who was standing in front of him with trident in hands. "Are you okay, Boss?" she asked.

"Y-Yeah…" he stuttered, scratching the back of his head. "How about you? Did they do anything?"

Chrome cocked her head to the side in confusion. "What do you mean? You were the one about to be hurt by them, weren't you?"

Tsuna's eyes widened in surprise, "B-But weren't they bothering you?"

She shook her head, "No one bothered me while I was asleep."

Tsuna felt his skin grow cold and his knees turn into jelly. He fell to the floor on his knees, head bent over in embarrassment and shame. "T-Then…that was all for nothing?"

"Boss?" Chrome kneeled in front of Tsuna. "Did they actually hurt you?"

"N-No…" Tsuna sighed, "They didn't." He looked up at her with a smile, "Thanks for your help. You knocked them out, right?"

The girl nodded slowly. As Tsuna rose to his feet again, she followed.

"I'll ask Yuki-san to help put these people back into their seats. You should probably get some more rest."

Chrome complied quietly, giving Tsuna a kiss on the cheek before turning back to her seat. "Thank you for your concern, Boss. Don't get into any trouble on your way back."

Tsuna put his fingers to his cherry-red cheek. "Y-Yeah…"

"That woman…she's got some nerve kissing the Tenth again!" Gokudera grumbled. Tsuna made a 180 and stared at Gokudera in shock.

"W-When did you get here, Gokudera?" he asked as he watched the teenager stuff several sticks of dynamite back into their hiding spots in the folds of his clothes.

"Just now…I saw those guys start to come towards you, but before I got here, they were already on the floor and that woman was standing over them. But…"

"But what?" Tsuna asked.

Gokudera averted his green eyes before staring straight into Tsuna's amber ones. "It wasn't _her_ standing over them…"

Tsuna tensed, "You don't mean Mu—"

The Storm Guardian silenced Tsuna with a hand to the mouth, which he quickly withdrew with an apology. "Let's go back to my seat and talk."

* * *

"I don't doubt your judgment, Tenth. That's why if you said that we needed to travel to the center of the earth, I would do it. But even so, I couldn't help but have my doubts concerning that girl," Gokudera explained in the segment connecting the two economy class cabins. The curtains around them were pulled shut together.

"What kind of doubts?" Tsuna asked.

Gokudera let out a sigh. "Well, I've never really like or trusted that guy, you know? And he's targeting the Tenth's body—"

"_Targeted_," Tsuna corrected.

Worried green orbs flashed before being hidden behind pale lids. "Either way, whether it was then or still is, he was still Tenth's enemy once and he hasn't shown very much loyalty to helping the Tenth. You remember the Ring Conflict, right? He knew Xanxus's plan but still didn't tell us; he probably knew all about the Ninth being stuck inside Mosca."

Tsuna didn't want to admit it, but Gokudera was right; although Mukuro was on their side, he wasn't entirely and mystery still shrouded the teenager. "But what does that have to do with Chrome?"

"She's connected to him, Tenth…And, what if he's just feigning his 'disappearance' just to lure you into a trap? He could've told her to act according to his script or possessed her to make you come to Italy, closer to him."

Tsuna shook his head, trying to deny what Gokudera was saying and defend Chrome. "If Chrome really was trying to trick us, then I would know. My intuition would've told me. And if it was Mukuro possessing her, I would be able to know that as well. I don't doubt that you told me you saw Mukuro, but are you sure it was him and not an illusion Chrome had made?"

The idea settled in Gokudera's mind and the silver-haired teen averted his gaze to the side. "I guess it _may_ have been an illusion, but…he looked too real to be an illusion. But since I have no real evidence than this, then we'll just leave this case of his appearance as an illusion."

Tsuna smiled sympathetically and put a hand on Gokudera's shoulder. "I'm grateful that you told me what you thought though. Ever since Yuki-san came, you've seemed like you were on the edge, but not solely because of her. Thank you, Gokudera."

The silver-haired boy smiled back at Tsuna with a soft smile that reflected happiness but also anxiety. "Just be careful, okay, Tenth?"

"Yeah," Tsuna nodded. "I know, let's go back to our seats, okay? I think it's almost time for lunch."

Gokudera nodded and the two walked out of the curtains side by side.

* * *

_End Chapter Six_

_Hahaha, that's it for these lame-ish "fillers" [I think…]_

_Oh, and if anyone's wondering about the result of Tsuna's seating problem, Tsuna split the economy class seat with Lambo, so Lambo rode on Tsuna's lap when Hibari was awake but sat very warily at the edge of the aisle seat when Hibari slept. So, he basically went back and forth in the duration of the plane ride. XD_

_Reviews Please! ^^_


	7. Chapter Seven: First Contact

_For this chapter, the translations for the [most likely] grammatically incorrect Italian is at the end of the "paragraph" [or sentence] at which they appear due to the mass [over] usage of the language._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. All rights are reserved to Akira Amano_

_

* * *

_

_**First Contact**_

"I thought that ride would never end…" Tsuna sighed in exhaustion. His complexion had paled twice that of his normal tone and greened slightly. In his hand was wax-lined paper bag just in case he needed to barf. Even after several flying lessons, he still was susceptible to airsickness.

Half-alive, Tsuna scanned the faces of his Guardians that had collected behind him as if he were a shepherd guiding sheep and one dog. "Did Hibari already leave?" Tsuna asked the pair of Gokudera in front of him.

"Yeah, he left already, but don't worry about it, Tenth! He'll probably meet us at the Bucking Bronco's mansion. For now, why don't I take you on a tour of Italy? We can even get something to eat while we go around."

"What about our bags?" Tsuna asked, turning greener at the sound of food.

"I'll take them to where we're staying," Chrome offered. All eyes turned toward the quiet girl who was still clutching the trident with her life. "I feel a little tired, so I'll bring the bags."

Tsuna shook his head, but wished he hadn't as he became dizzier. "I-I don't like that idea, Chrome. If you're left alone, who knows what will happen to you."

Yamamoto raised his hand and volunteered with a smile, "I can take her and the bags to Dino's mansion then."

Gokudera opened his mouth to agree, happy at the thought of getting rid of one idiot, but the young Professor Boreen interrupted, "No. Yamamoto, you should stay with Tsuna, Gokudera, and Ryohei."

The infant looked up at the Storm Guardian, "You'll need someone with quick, trained reflexes like Yamamoto to help you protect Tsuna. Because we're in Italy, he'll be targeted heavily, especially by enemies that know his face."

Boreen turned to Tsuna, "Make sure your Guardians don't get into trouble, alright Silly Tsuna? Yuki will be following behind you guys when she's able to. After I drop off Lambo and Chrome at the Cavallone Mansion, I'll be going out for a while. I'll be back late so don't expect me to be back for any meal. Ciaossu."

Tsuna waved to the small figure that was dragging a snoring bag and followed by Chrome, who had given Tsuna a quick bow before running after the small cow-boy and disguised hitman.

"Then, let's go on that tour," Tsuna smiled weakly as his dizziness slowly subsided.

* * *

Hibari waited outside the airport for a taxi.

"Kyouya!"

The prefect felt his mood worsen at the sound of his name being called so familiarly. He glared at the direction the voice was coming from. His blond tutor came walking up to Hibari with his Family conspicuously standing behind him.

The other fliers, both the people who had landed and were about to take-off, attempted in vain to keep their eyes averted from the Mafia that had gathered in waiting of the Tenth Generation Vongola Boss and his Guardians.

"You, I've told you before, don't call me by my first name. It's impolite," Hibari glared at the man. "If you're here to offer me a ride, I won't sit in a car _crowded_ with your precious Family."

Dino smiled, "I thought you might say that, so I brought an extra car so that you won't need to deal with sitting with everyone else. Where's Reborn, Tsuna, and the others?"

"I have no reign over them. If they're going to fool around on their first day of 'vacation' rather than recover from jetlag, then that's their problem," Hibari answered.

"Then let's go back to my place ahead of the others," the Cavallone boss suggested as he wrapped an arm around Hibari's neck. The prefect shot the "oblivious" blond man a glare, then changed the target of his cold stare to the man's hand. "While they're having their short 'Roman Holiday', you can rest all you want. Although, I was initially planning on doing a little sparring with you to assess how much stronger you've gotten."

Hibari, who had already withdrawn his tonfa to strike at Dino for the unnecessary contact smirked, the corner of his lips curled up devilishly. "I see. If you intend on insisting so much, then I'll be glad to bite you to death."

Dino smiled at the sound of Hibari's classic line. "Well then, put away your tonfa and we'll get to the mansion as soon as possible."

"Very well," Hibari agreed, hiding the steel rods in his sleeves.

* * *

(Medici Labs Headquarters, Executive Office)

Light was filtered through thin lines between window shades. The doors of the office were pushed open by two men dressed in black with eyes hidden behind sunglasses. Another man had walked in and opened the blinds completely, allowing the Italian sunlight to fully enter the office.

The executive of the company strolled in, stripping off his black duffel coat. He threw the jacket aside for a following bodyguard to catch and carry like a walking hanger. The man took the black swivel chair behind a dark oak desk and looked outside. His gaze transfixed on the walking figures in the streets fifty stories below.

When he heard no door close, he turned to his bodyguards with a burning yellow fire in his eyes and was greeted with another face, a face he hadn't expected nor wanted to see.

"What are you doing here? Didn't I assign you with retrieving Test Subject 0-G24?" he asked, containing most of his anger from escaping his mouth.

"The droids and the men were taken out," the man admitted weakly. "And…"

"And what?" He snapped, standing up. His palm hit the wooden tabletop. "Is there _more_ you'd like to add to the list of failures you're building so quickly?"

"Well, the prisoner you took from Vendiche. He…committed suicide."

In a second, the papers and ornaments that decorated the desk were scattered on the floor, some in thousands of little pieces. "Why am I not surprised that your competence has allowed the prisoner to do such an action? When did he kill himself?"

The man averted his gaze from his boss's and he lowered his head, ashamed as a man that had committed sins. "Somehow, despite our scientists' precautions with the boy, he managed to escape. When Security was finally able to corner him, he jumped out the window and plummeted to his death in a million pieces on the ground."

The boss pushed his fiery hair back with a gloved hand. He heaved a sigh, trying to calm himself before he strangled his subordinate. "Did any passersby see what happened?"

He shook his head, "No, Sir. Not a soul other than your own men."

"Then everything is still fine. Find out where Test Subject 0-G24 is and report to me as soon as you do."

"Well, Sir, although we _lost_ the prisoner and our droids and men, we did not lose the test subject's whereabouts. It would seem that Vongola Decimo has arrived in Italy recently with his Guardians. And if Vongola Decimo is here—"

A sinister smile befell the executive's lips as he finished his subordinate's sentence. "Then that would mean 0-G24 is here as well." He turned to his minion with a rather dark congratulatory smile. Then he strode by, taking his coat from the human hanger. "Well done on your compensation for your failure. Call my chauffer and tell him to prepare the car. We're going to give a greeting to Vongola's Tenth."

Although he knew his boss wouldn't see it, the man bowed with eyes closed, a smile stretching from one corner of his lip to the other. "Yes, sir." He slowly opened his eyes and rested his gaze on the exiting figure of the Medici's executive. When the doors of the office closed and left him inside, he began cleaning up the papers on the floor and neatly organizing them back into their proper spaces. Then, he rested back in the leather swivel chair, letting out a content chuckle.

He reached over the dark oak desk for the one ornament that hadn't fallen off the desk, a glass sculpture of a curled-up Western dragon. With a graceful, fluid movement, he plucked the figure glued to its spot from the tabletop, examining all sides and angles of the piece with intrigue. "Now then, Mr. Romulus Medici," he smiled as his iris flashed from a mysterious dark brown to an enigmatic red and blue and back to brown, "please give me a good show."

* * *

Tsuna walked next to Gokudera, whose mouth kept running about the history of Italy and the history of its monuments. For most of the tour, Tsuna paid little attention, distracted by the beauty and the numerous amount of people he would have considered foreigners if they were still in Japan.

"…And here is the café where the first generation family met a little before they decided to form the Vongola Family. Of course, not everyone was accounted for. The First Mist, the First Thunder, and the First Cloud did not attend this meeting. But, Primo did talk to the First Cloud and First Mist by himself later on. And—"

"Ah, Gokudera," Tsuna interrupted. Gokudera instantly stopped and turned his full attention to the brunette.

"Yes Tenth?"

The ray from the noon sun reigned down on the group of students. Tsuna's hair stuck to his forehead by a sweaty glue. His cheeks were slightly reddened from the heat and the eyes that all looked at him in expectancy. "I'm a little tired, can we get something to drink and maybe rest a little?"

"Of course!" Gokudera smiled. He started to look around for a suitable place to rest when he remembered where they were. "How about we go inside and refresh ourselves then, Tenth?"

Tsuna nodded with a smile, "That'd be nice."

"Alright! Let's go!" He started to lead the smaller boy inside, enthusiastically chattering about the history of the shops decorum.

Yamamoto and Ryohei walked a few steps behind, talking about their upcoming games and laughing about part tournaments.

"Ushishishi…Well what do we have here? Garbage clones of that little fish and his Guardians? Or the real garbage visiting in Italy?"

Gokudera turned his head first towards the sound of the laughter that annoyed him. "You're Belphegor!"

The blond assassin's lips tugged downward as he was handed his gelato. "That's _Prince_ Belphegor, brat," he corrected. He turned to his companion who stood next to him. "Hurry up, Freshman. We don't have a break that lasts forever and I still have things I need to do."

"Yes, sir," the smaller boy next to him replied blatantly, fixing the black casket hat atop his green hair. "_Uno 'dolce di latte' gelato per favore_." [One 'sweet milk' gelato please.]

"_Che taglia vorresti_?" the clerk asked. [What size?]

The boy turned to Belphegor expressionless. "How much can I get?"

"Just get the smallest size or it'll all go to your head and let's go."

Again the boy looked up at the clerk with an expressionless countenance. "_Piccolo, per favore_." [Small, please.]

The clerk took a pink translucent cup and began scooping the sweet gelato into a cup. "_Va bene, un 'dolce di latte' gelato piccolo_." [Alright, one small 'sweet milk' gelato.]

"_Grazie_," the small boy took the cup and began eating as Belphegor paid for both of their treats. The 'Frog' started eating and looked up at Belphegor in expectance. [Thanks]

"Go wait outside for a bit and don't get into any trouble. I need to talk to this bunch of brats for a bit."

The boy clicked his tongue, but his face remained impassive, "Yeah, got it." Then he followed his senior's order and left the shop.

A smile crossed the prince's face as he took a spoonful of gelato. "Why are you brats in Italy?"

Ryohei opened his mouth to tell the tale, but Gokudera stopped him and answered in his stead. "The Tenth felt like learning a bit of history about Italy," the silver-haired Storm Guardian responded. "And why is someone of the Varia hanging around in a café? Shouldn't you be working for the jerk-boss of yours?"

"Even the Varia get lunch breaks and I was stuck babysitting the newbie," Belphegor answered disdainfully. "I don't recall hearing about you guys coming to visit from the Vongola though."

"It was sort of last minute planning," Tsuna explained with a nervous smile and a small laugh.

"Whatever then," Belphegor left after hearing the poorly presented answer.

"I didn't expect to see that guy here," Gokudera mumbled glaring at the doorway as if Belphegor's presence still lingered like the Cheshire Cat's smile.

Yamamoto laughed, "Isn't it more fun this way though? Unexpected meetings are always great."

Gokudera's gaze remained fixed on the spot a few more seconds before he turned away. "Still…" he sighed, "I don't like the idea of meeting this guy here…It feels like a bad omen."

"Just fight away the bad thoughts to the extreme!" Ryohei exclaimed.

Tsuna stared at his friends, who were still energetic even after the flight. "So…" He decided to change the topic. "What do they have to drink here, Gokudera?"

"Let's see…They have orange juice, sparkling water, lemonade, tea, coffee, cappuccino, mocha, latte, and some sparkling juices."

"What do you suggest?" Tsuna asked.

"I think the latte would suit Tenth's tastes best," he answered.

"Then I'll get that. What about you guys?" Tsuna turned to his companions.

"I'll just get some milk or something," Yamamoto smiled. "Do they have that, Gokudera?"

Gokudera scoffed at the baseball fan's question. "Of course they do. How else are they supposed to make lattes if they don't have milk?"

"I'll get lemonade," Ryohei interjected after reviewing the list of the selections he actually remembered hearing Gokudera name.

The brunette turned to the half-Italian. "What about you, Gokudera?"

"I'm getting black coffee," he answered.

"Black coffee?" Yamamoto let out a short laugh, "No wonder you're so short, Gokudera."

Gokudera glared at Yamamoto, "Shut up baseball-freak!"

Tsuna laughed nervously as a few eyes looked up at the attention-gathering duo. Soon after he laughed, a high shrill sounded off from a group of teenage girls in the corner of the store. The brunette stole a glance behind him and saw the heart-throbbing teenage girls stare at Gokudera and Yamamoto.

"_Buone_!" One of the girls squealed as Yamamoto and Gokudera turned so that their whole faces were revealed. [Nice!]

Gokudera glared at the group before returning his attention back to Tsuna. He scoffed in disgust. "Why the heck are girls always so weird? It doesn't matter where, they just always are."

Yamamoto laughed as if everything the silver-haired teen said sparked his signature smile. "Come on, girls aren't always weird. Sometimes they're just really nice."

"G-Guys, let's not get into a fight and just make our order, okay?" Tsuna suggested sheepishly.

Gokudera turned to Tsuna. His countenance reflected worry and seriousness. "Is something wrong, Tenth?"

"I-I don't know," Tsuna answered as he felt a shiver roll down his spine. "I just feel like there's something wrong here…"

Gokudera looked up at Yamamoto, whose facial expression was almost a copy of the Storm Guardian's. They exchanged glances and gave a small nod to each other, understanding what each other meant without words being said.

"Tenth, I think we should go now. If you don't feel right, then it's best we leave." Gokudera turned to Ryohei, who was distracted by a wall of newspaper clippings of great reviews and pictures captioned in Italian. "Hey, Lawn-Hair!" he called out, instantly snapping the boxer out of his trance.

"What is it, Octopus-Head?" he asked.

The silver-haired teen bit down his lip as he calmed himself down before continuing. "There's been a change in plans and we decided to go to Dino's, but we also need to protect the Tenth on the way there. The baseball-nut will take the front, I'll be behind the Tenth, and you'll be in back of me. That's the plan, do you understand?"

Ryohei nodded, "I'll do my best to memorize this strategy to the extreme!"

Gokudera let out a sigh, "Now that the plan's settled, let's start the operation." He notioned to Yamamoto to lead, "Go on."

"Got it," Yamamoto nodded as he took the front, his wooden sword case in hand.

Tsuna wearily followed after the tall black-haired boy with Gokudera trailing close behind and Ryohei not too far from his Storm Guardian.

"Do you still have that feeling, Tenth?" Gokudera whispered, casting suspicious glares left and right at the people surrounding them.

"I think—" Tsuna stumbled backwards into Gokudera, who managed to catch the brunette without falling back. The messy haired heir rubbed his head, which he had managed to injure and collide with a pillar despite having Yamamoto in front of him.

Gokudera's green eyes glazed over with worry, "Tenth? Are you okay?"

"_Mi scusi_!" the 'pillar' apologized. When he received a glare from Gokudera, he apologized in English, "I'm sorry, please forgive me, I didn't see the boy in my rush to get to the café!" [Please excuse me!]

"_Sono in grado di parlare italiano_…" Gokudera growled, "_Se si desidera scusarsi, si prega di farlo in giapponese così Decimo in grado di capire_." [I can speak Italian…If you want to apologize, please do so in Japanese so Tenth can understand.]

The man blinked confusedly at the young pair. "_Giapponese_?" [Japanese?]

"_Sissignore_…" [Yes sir…]

The man knelt onto one leg and took one of Tsuna's hands, kissing the back of it. The brunette, who watched the scene in shock, felt his face turn red at the embarrassment of the scene that was being made and the contact that he wasn't used to. Gokudera, who was less amused by this 'formality' glared at the strange fiery-haired man.

"If he only understands Japanese, then please allow me to extend a formal apology to you, young boy," the man smiled, lids covering yellow eyes. "My name is Romulus, I'm sorry for bumping into you in my rush."

"T-That's—"

Gokudera pulled the man's wrist away from Tsuna's hand. His green eyes grew stormy and angry. "Look you, keep your lips and your hands off of Tenth…"

"I'm sorry," the man apologized again, holding his hands up as if Gokudera was pointing a gun at him, "I meant no offense! I forgot that things were different in Japanese culture! Honestly! I sincerely—"

_Bang!_

A bullet skimmed past Romulus's nose and hit the sidewalk harmlessly. The bystanders dispersed at the sound and ran from the scene, screaming and panicking. Tsuna, Yamamoto, Ryohei, Gokudera, and the man all looked up at the direction the gunshot came from.

"You…Step away from him!" a women growled. Her dark hair was pinned up in a loose, wavy bun against her head and a pair of shades covered her eyes. When no movement was made, she fired another shot. This time, it grazed the man's hand. "This is your last warning. If you don't drop that weapon you're hiding in your jacket and back away from the boy, I will kill you."

The fiery-haired man smirked as he took two steps backwards with one hand at the level of his eyes. The other withdrew a gun from a hidden holster in the folds of his black duffel coat and dropped the armament to the floor. He kicked it over to the woman. "There. Is this better?"

"Drop the other one, too," she ordered.

The man clicked in tongue and disdainfully unarmed himself of his guns entirely.

"Now then, what's your name?"

The man swallowed his growl and replied coolly, "I believe I've said it before."

The woman's eyes narrowed behind her sunglasses and she walked over to the man, her heels clinking against the floor with each step. "I didn't hear it." She muttered as she prodded the man's forehead with the open end of her gun. "What's your name, _signore_?"

He smirked, glaring up at his terrorist with equal hostility, "You'll know soon enough, _signorina_…"

More gunshots sounded and a machine gun fired aimlessly. The woman jumped away from the fiery-haired man and covered the wide-eyed brunette with her back to the flying bullets.

The man stood as a black car pulled up to him with guns pointed toward Tsuna and the black-haired woman protecting him. "I'm in a bit of a hurry so I apologize for not giving you a formal greeting, Vongola Decimo," he apologized with a sinister smile as he entered the interior of the car next to him. "You have something that belongs to me, so I'll be coming back to get it later. But for now, please enjoy what little time you have before I take it back. _Arrivederci_…"

Then, as quickly as the car had come, it sped off. Its only evidence of existence at that scene was the black tire marks it left in its wake. The woman who had shrouded Tsuna and Gokudera stood up and strode to the two guns lying on the floor. She picked them up and examined the identical carving on both guns: a western dragon with its head tucked over its hind legs and its wings folded behind it.

"Y-Yuki-san, it's you, r-right?" Tsuna asked. His voice was softer than it had been for a very long time. Fear bubbled out from his gut and poured over him in a cold sweat. He trembled as he pushed himself away from Gokudera and tugged at the woman's dress. "Y-Yuki-san?"

"Yes, it's me," she answered, not turning to face the brunette. Gokudera stomped up to the two, angered by their familiarity and worried from Tsuna's shivers. He grabbed one of Yuki's wrists and examined the acquired weapons in her hand.

His green orbs narrowed and he instantly withdrew, trying to pry Tsuna away from her by the shoulder. "Tenth! Get away from her!" he growled.

Tsuna didn't move his legs and stayed by Yuki's side. He did, however, turn his head to face Gokudera. "W-What's wrong?"

"It's like I've been saying all this time. That woman…she's _with_ the Medici! It's not safe around her! We can't trust her!"

"You're wrong, Gokudera!" Tsuna snapped. Yamamoto, Gokudera, Ryohei, and even Tsuna himself were wide-eyed in disbelief. He averted his gaze from his silver-haired friend and Storm Guardian. "Y-You're wrong, Gokudera. If Yuki-san were part of the Medici, she wouldn't be having nightmares, she'd be making them. If Yuki-san were part of the Medici, my heart and my mind wouldn't be screaming at me to defend her. Yuki-san isn't a bad person. She's just like you…She's trying to protect me even though she's only known me for a short time. Gokudera…I know you may not trust Yuki-san, but I do. So please…" His vision started to be blurred by a screen of water. As hot tears streamed from his eyes, he wiped them away with his arm. "Please don't say she's not safe. Please don't say we can't trust her. Please…she's not with the Medici. She isn't evil. I can tell."

Gokudera's gaze softened and he extend his hands out to Tsuna, gently placing them on Tsuna's shoulders. "Tenth, I'm sorry…I didn't mean to offend you—"

"Gokudera," Tsuna placed his hands over the taller teen's, a soft and pained smile on his face. "If you're going to apologize, please apologize to Yuki-san, not me."

The green-eyed boy swallowed his pride and averted his gaze. "I'm sorry, Me—I mean—I'm sorry, Yuki-san. I was being rash and let my emotions get the better of me."

"It's fine," she responded, closing her eyes. "It happens to all of us." She turned around and gave Gokudera a pat on the shoulder. "I understand that you really care for our boss, just like G. and I were to Primo. There will probably be many more times in the future that you let your emotions control your actions, but I know you'll get a hang of it someday. And that'll probably be before me."

Gokudera glanced up at Yuki then back down at the floor. He swatted her hand off his shoulder. "I got it already, so stop touching me!" he growled, with a light pink haze on his cheeks.

Yuki smiled, "I'm glad."

A siren rang in the distance and the group looked in the direction of the noise.

"We should probably leave before the police get here," Yamamoto suggested with a smile. "They might not like us playing our mafia game in the streets."

Gokudera turned to the tall baseball player, "I told you! It's not a stupid game!"

Tsuna laughed awkwardly. "Here we go again," he sighed.

* * *

_End Chapter Seven_

_Thanks for waiting for this update, everyone!_

_It was a bit difficult for me to have time to work on this with all my exams. __

_But please forgive me if I left you hanging on the last chapter. I swear it wasn't my intention…Anyways…_

_Reviews are still welcome!_


	8. Chapter Eight: Royal Treatment

_Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn or its characters. All rights belong to Akira Amano. The idea for this story, Yuki, and any other characters or family that appear that are not part of the real story line belong to me._

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* * *

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_**Royal Treatment**_

Professor Boreen, who carried a snoring bag, walked silently side by side with Chrome, who also kept her steps light and quiet as they headed to the Cavallone Mansion. It wasn't until they were one block from the Mafioso's home that the infant professor broke the silence. "Chrome."

She stopped with Boreen and kneeled in front of him. "Yes?"

"It'll be hard, but please take care of Tsuna and the others while I'm gone. And don't let yourself get pushed around too much by those boys like you do back with the other two."

Chrome gave a small nod in understanding, but her face mirrored her confusion.

Boreen's face gave no hint at a false surprise at seeing her reaction. And although he had an idea of what she was thinking, he still asked, "Why does the expression on your face not go along with your nodding?"

"I understand what you want me to do, Professor Boreen, but why are you telling me this? The way you're saying it, it sounds like you'll be gone a long time."

A small smile spread on the professor's face. "Because you don't talk most of the time, Ken and Chikusa don't realize how smart you are. I will tell you the truth, but you are not to tell Tsuna or the others."

Chrome nodded again. "What about Mr. Dino?"

Boreen shook his head, "If you want to tell Dino, that's fine, but it's not necessary because he'll probably know. Dino was my pupil, so I know he probably tapped the parameters within a one mile radius of his estate." The infant set Lambo and the cow-boy's cage in front of Chrome. "I'm leaving Tsuna and the others in your care because I'll be gone for a meeting of the Arcobaleno. I'm not going to give you false hope with a lie like it won't take long. These meetings always last a while; it might take a day or two days or even a week. I won't know until what we're discussing is done being discussed. Now, the information that we'll be talking about is classified and I can't tell you even though you have a high rank in the mafia as a Vongola Guardian."

The disguised hitman paused and cast a small glance up at the sky, catching a cloud pass by as well as a blimp. He then focused his attention back to Chrome, "My ride will be arriving soon, so watch over them. Your illusions are powerful so please use them when you think it is necessary and if you must, use your Vongola ring for power, but just be careful you don't let people that don't know of the rings' powers find out in this time. Keep Tsuna safe and make sure he doesn't make a complete full out of himself when his actions matter the most, alright?"

Chrome nodded her head, "I understand, Professor Boreen." She picked up Lambo's carrying case and relocated the infant's bag on top of a rolling suitcase. The female Mist Guardian bowed, "Please have a safe trip."

The infant gave another small smile and bowed his head, "Good luck." Then he walked off, turning the corner. Chrome looked down where the costumed Arcobaleno stood and found a bullet. She picked up the metal and examined it, finding a note on the small piece.

_This is for Gokudera, give it to him when he gets to the mansion._

_~Professor Boreen and his partner, Leon_

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* * *

_

(Varia Headquarters)

A car drove through the forest of trees and shrubbery surrounding the secret location of the Varia Headquarters.

The car came to a halt in front of the manor-like building's entrance and the chauffer stepped out. He quickly stepped to the door of the backseat, opening the metal to reveal the person feared and revered as the Ninth's son. "We've arrived, Lord Xanxus," the chauffer bowed as the black-haired man exited the car.

"About time," the man muttered. "I want my dinner at six thirty sharp, no earlier and no later. Tonight we're having filet minon."

"Understood, Lord Xanxus," the chauffer answered as Xanxus walked towards his manor, "I'll notify the chef of your arrangements immediately."

When he reached the porch, the mahogany double doors opened, revealing a red velvet carpet over waxed marble tiles, crimson drapery pulled back to frame Gothic windows, and a staircase with rails of gold. "Welcome home, Lord Xanxus," two parallel lines of subordinates greeted with a bow.

Xanxus grunted his response as he walked in. One of the men left the line-up and took Xanxus's jacket while handing him several folders of paper. "These are some mission reports and this here," the man pointed to the top paper, "needs to be signed—"

"What am I signing this thing for?" Xanxus asked, taking a pen from the aid's breast pocket as he took a step up the staircase. He popped off the pen cap with one hand and signed the paper without looking at it.

"It's an invitation from the BaYuan Long for you and designated Varia members to attend an inheritance ceremony for their next boss," the man explained.

Xanxus stopped and turned to glare at the subordinate. "I didn't ask _what_ it was; I asked _why_ I am signing it."

The man gulped, but quickly and nervously explained, "It's a contract that says you won't cause any damage on the premises to the actual building itself, the workers, the dining ware, and any insects before the party, throughout the duration of the party, and for a 48 hour period after the party."

Xanxus started walking again, "That's better. Is there any news from the Vongola?"

The two reached the end of the hallway and the subordinate bounded ahead of Xanxus by a step to open the doors to Xanxus's office. "We haven't heard anything, Lord Xanxus."

"I see," Xanxus let out a sigh as he took a seat in his cushioned throne and laid his paperwork in front of himself. He pulled a bottle of vodka from under his desk as well as a glass. Immediately, his aid brought over a bucket of ice and started dropping cubes into the transparent cup. Xanxus poured the golden liquid as the subordinate backed off. "Then what's—"

"Voi!" A long silver-haired swordsman burst into Xanxus's office. "Xanxus! If you're going to give out missions, can't you make them good? What kind of joke are you trying to pull? 'Baby-sitting'? Since when did the Varia—"

The swordsman side-stepped as a glass cup filled with vodka-washed ice flew toward him. The container met with wall and collapsed to the floor in pieces. "Shut up you annoying trash!"

The long-haired subordinate glared at the glass then at Xanxus, "V-Voi!"

"Stop shouting, Mr. Captain Squalo."

The swordsman turned to the voice and saw a blond prince leaning against the doorframe. Xanxus threw the bottle of vodka at the back of Squalo's head, who looked back at his boss with a glare before. He kept his eyes fixed on his boss but asked, "What do you want, Bel?"

"I was looking for you, Mr. Captain. I felt like reporting what I found on my lunch break with the un-cute subordinate at a café," Belphegor answered.

"Knowing you, it's probably some knife set or a new murder victim," Squalo mumbled to himself.

The smile on Belphegor's lips faded. "I heard that."

Squalo scoffed and spat, "Whatever, just get to the point of what you wanted to say."

His mischievous smile returned, "Do you mind if we talk here, Boss?"

"Just say whatever you need to say already it's getting annoying listening to this trash," Xanxus answered, leaning back into his chair.

"Ushishishi…As you wish," Belphegor bowed. Then he turned to his Captain and announced, "When I went out with that un-cute Freshman to the café, I saw the little fish and his bodyguards. Although it seemed like a little vacation, I doubt it since we didn't get any notification that they were coming to Italy. And, the little fish's face looked like a guilty tuna about to be grilled for dinner when he said their plans were last minute. What do you think, Mr. Captain?"

Squalo sent Belphegor an infuriated death glare and opened his mouth to scold the blond prince, but was interrupted by Xanxus.

"So, that runt's here in Italy now, is he?" Xanxus's frostbite scars appeared on his dark tanned skin and his hands began to glow a murderous red. Heat waves became visible as his rage grew and the glow started to burn the atmosphere around him.

"Ushishihsi, sure is, Boss," Belphegor cackled, basking in the heat of his success and Xanxus's flames.

Xanxus's anger was released in a growl and a blast that singed off Squalo's uniform, almost burning the swordsman's face, and a large gaping hole in the window. Cold air rushed into the room and soothed Xanxus's fury and stole the smoke from the blasts' destruction wreaked on the Varia Headquarters.

Squalo instantly turned to his boss and snapped, "Voi! Xanxus! You almost—"

The black-haired Italian pushed his temporary secretary at Squalo, causing the two to fall onto the floor and effectively stopped the swordsman from talking. "Shut up already, annoying shark!" Xanxus glared at Belphegor, "You! Round up all the lazy-ass trash you can find in this dump heap and get ready to leave for the Vongola's Main House.

"B-But, Lord Xanxus! What about the BaYuan Long's inheritance ceremony?" the tossed subordinate questioned, scared for his life but also fearful of what fate might befall him for giving the BaYuan Long Triad a false response.

"Who cares about that trash? This is more important!"

Belphegor let out a cackle as the subordinate gulped, "F-For the sake of the Vongola you want to take at its strongest point, p-please attend the inheritance ceremony."

Xanxus directed his glare at the insubordinate subordinate, "Are you telling me—the Great Xanxus—what to do?"

"I-I—That—I mean—I-It was merely a suggestion, Lord Xanxus! I could n-never tell y-you what to do!" The man quickly got up and rushed out of the hole in the wall. "P-Please excuse me!"

Xanxus took a step to follow, rearing up for a hunt with his boiling blood, but was stopped by the Varia's captain.

"Voi! Xanxus, stop for a second!" Squalo stood between his boss and the gaping hole.

The taller man clicked his tongue in disgust and spat on the smaller, "Are you going to tell me what to do, too, stupid trash?"

"If it means getting you to calm down, then yes!"

"Ushishishishishi," Belphegor smiled, "I think I'll step out now. You two have fun and if it turns into a blood bath, call me."

Xanxus grabbed Squalo by the collar of his uniform and pulled him close so that they were only separated by a centimeter gap. "Do you have a death wish, stupid shark?"

Squalo smirked, "If I didn't, how could I work for a stubborn ass like you? Now look, go to that inheritance ceremony no matter how stupid or trivial it seems to you. I'll take Bel, the Pervert, and the Weirdo to the Vongola and talk to them about this whole fish crap."

A smile started to spread across Xanxus's lips and soon gave birth to a maniacal, insane laugh, "How hilarious! You think you can tell me what to do, annoying trash? I'm the Boss around here and I'll tell you how things are going to be run! That prince, the Pervert, and the Weirdo can go tattle to the Vongola! If I'm going to suffer through an inheritance ceremony for some triad in China, you're going to go, too. Got that?" He pushed Squalo away as he went to search for his prey.

Squalo spat onto the debris-covered carpet, "Whatever you say, Xanxus…"

* * *

(Medici Labs Headquarters, Sublevel 1: Testing Labs)

Romulus Medici sped into the testing labs under his company's headquarters and out of a posh, luxurious elevator. "That thing…Why did those stupid scientists allow it to retain so many Mafioso traits? I'm going to fire every single one of them for this!"

A man dressed in a formal suit bowed as he noticed his boss walk up to him and the scientist he was interrogating. "Sir, welcome back! How was your—Sir! Your hand!"

Romulus held up his hand and assessed the wound, "This? It's nothing, just a scrape." He turned to the man in the white coat with the yellow eyes of a man about to commit a murder. "Were _you_ the one on duty when the prisoner escaped?"

The man nodded, "I was one of them, yes, sir."

He narrowed his eyes angrily but forced himself to speak calmly, "Who else was with you?"

"Dr. Mario and Dr. Luigi were also on duty. Dr. Mario is in the infirmary. As for Dr. Luigi, he has gone missing."

Romulus's eyebrows lifted in a mixture of shock and confusion. "'Missing'?" He grabbed the scientist by the shoulders and shook the man, "What do you mean 'missing'? If he's 'missing' and the company's operations get out into public your funding and family will go missing! You understand what I'm telling you here?"

"Y-Yes, Sir," the man gulped as his pants darkened and dampened.

The fiery-haired man released the professor and watched the man crumple under his own knees and gravity. "Get changed and then come back to my office for a _formal_ interrogation."

The man scrambled to his feet and ran to the elevator, "U-Understood, Sir!"

Romulus let out a sigh and turned to his remaining subordinate, "Why is _competent_ help so hard to find nowadays?"

The remainder let out an uncomfortable, awkward laugh, "I wonder, why is that?"

"I can't seem to remember your name, what is it?"

"Me? My name is Ricci Canoli, Sir."

Silence rested between the two, watching their slow movements intently.

The Medici's heir picked a knocked-over scalpel off the floor, examining it in his hands. "I see." Romulus walked over to his subordinate and stabbed him in the stomach with the blade, twisting his weapon in the man's gut. "It's too bad that I don't have a subordinate name Ricci Canoli…"

Blood seeped from the wounded man's lips as a smile appeared from curled corners. "Ku fu fu…Of course not, Mr. Romulus Medici! There is no Ricci Canoli, not even here in front of you…" The man that had occupied the space in front of Romulus disappeared in thin air—an illusion conjured up by some unseen man.

Romulus reached for a gun, but found nothing on his person. He muttered a curse under his breath and damnation on the escaped test subject as he scanned the laboratory for signs of the teenage illusionist. Slowly the fluorescent lights went out, one by one, shattered glass and mercury rained down in a poisonous, cutting shower.

"Show yourself, coward!" Romulus yelled in the darkness.

"Says the man that cowers and hides his flesh when the lights are simply turned off by a flick of the light switch," Mukuro's voice mocked as shards of glass and poisonous liquid on the floor evaporated.

Fury bubbled out from Romulus in a deep, throaty growl, "Why you!"

A chuckle echoed within the confines of the laboratory, "Ku fu fu…don't worry your fiery little head off, Mr. Romulus Medici. You may exact your revenge or whatever dislike you feel towards me when you find me. If you can, that is…Your deadline for the fun game will be when I feel like being 'rescued' by a cute little doll and her companions. Let's have us a nice, fun game until then…"

The lights flickered back on and Romulus grabbed the phone on the wall and made a roar of an announcement over the PA system.

"Rokudou Mukuro is _still_ alive!You idiots better find him before I do or I promise you, you will wish you were never born! Understood! Now find that prisoner _immediately_!"

Even from the basement, Romulus could hear the simultaneous and unified "Yes, Sir!" supplied by his subordinates and working staff. He smiled to himself in satisfaction despite his fury. "Hear that, Rokudou Mukuro?" he growled to the air, "You're as good as caught! You hear me? _Caught_!"

* * *

(Cavallone Mansion)

"Hey, Gokudera, is this really where Dino lives?" Tsuna asked, scanning the large building from top to bottom with wide eyes. The mansion resembled an old school building in New York or London—composed almost completely of bricks ranging from reds to browns to mahogany—and windows that were about the same height as Tsuna from the base of his chin to his toes set in freshly painted white frames. Some of the bricks were covered by tentacle-like green that crept up the side of the building; some of the leafy vines made it to the roof while others stopped right under the second story window, like two different invasion forces.

Gokudera spat onto the asphalt in disgust of being so close to the Bucking Bronco's home. "Yeah, this is the place alright, Tenth. I think my father took me here once with Sis when I was younger—for a party or something. It's not hard to forget this place."

Tsuna nodded, "Right…" He stole a glance at everyone's expressions. Gokudera was aggravated, Yuki was scoping for enemies behind a pair of sunglasses provided by Reborn, Ryohei was in deep thought—most likely over boxing routines, Tsuna decided—and Yamamoto was humming to himself as he studied his surroundings. The brunette let out a small sigh and walked up a set of concrete stairs, darkened with dirt, years of wear and tear, bullet scuff marks, as well as what seemed to be dried blood that had been missed in the ammonia and bleach bath that was evident only through smell. Whoever was cleaning was either being overpaid for a bad job or underpaid and performing to fit the bill. Tsuna pushed the electric doorbell next to a seven foot cherry oak door snugly fit into a white frame, whose newly coated finish was mixing with the aroma of poorly applied cleaning chemicals.

The group waited quietly, most were more patient than others.

_Crash! Boom! Thud!_

Tsuna stared at the door and took a step back as if his one push of the small circular button let loose a chain reaction of destruction. Gokudera scoffed, "Can't the Bucking Bronco even properly open a door without a subordinate around to keep him coordinated?"

The smallest of them all let out a small light chuckle, feeling rather awkward with the silence that followed after the loud noises coming from the interior of the mansion and Gokudera's comment.

Angry with the wait that seemed like an eternity for Gokudera, he began pushing the button by the door, repeatedly over and over again.

"Gokudera! Stop!" Yamamoto caught Gokudera by the wrist before the teen could press the doorbell for a 12th time. "What if Dino's out right now?"

"Then there wouldn't be sound coming from inside the mansion!" Gokudera growled in his own defense.

"I got it!" Ryohei pounded a fist onto his palm and Tsuna could almost see the _Bingo!_ sign glow over Ryohei's head along with a small bright light bulb. "Dino and Hibari must be training for the Italian National Boxing Championships!" He maneuvered through his younger friends and pounded on the door. "Hey! Let me in, too! I want to fight, too! Hibari! Dino! Romario!"

Gokudera slapped the back of Ryohei's head.

The older grey-haired teen winced, rubbing his growing sore spot, "Don't be an idiot, Lawn-Hair! They're probably just sparring to keep that weird Hibari preoccupied and happy." Gokudera jammed his finger into the doorbell again, "Why don't the Cavallone have a doorman for crying out loud! If we were ringing the doorbell anywhere else _someone _would've opened the door by—"

Gokudera's wish was granted as the cherry oak slab slowly creaked open with rusty hinges. "Good evening, Vongola Family," Romari bowed as he greeted the teenagers.

Gokudera scoffed, "It's about time…Where's that Bucking Bronco anyways?"

"G-Good evening," Tsuna bowed, hoping that Romario ignored Gokudera's rude remark. "Is Dino home right now? And did Chrome, Lambo, and Hibari get here safely?"

Romario chuckled, "They did, Mr. Sawada. Miss Doukuro is in her room and the little Bovino is playing some games. As for Mr. Hibari and Boss…they're in the middle of sparring."

_Crash!_

The Cavallone subordinate turned and saw his boss slide on the floor. The Mafioso slipped off his green duffel coat and stumbled back onto his feet, running away just in time to miss a charging chain of hedgehogs. When the blond man caught sight of the open door and his house guests, he ran up to them.

Dino smiled as he greeted them, "Hey, Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Miss Sanada, if I'm not mistaken. I'm a little busy with Kyouya right now, so I'll talk to you guys during dinner. Uh…" He looked around inside his mansion for a wandering personnel. The target in his view was a maid and he grabbed the unsuspecting women, bringing her to the doorway. "This is Miss Kaitlin Smith. She can speak Japanese, English and Italian fluently. She'll take you guys to your rooms."

The maid smiled, "It's nice to meet you. Please call me Miss Smith."

_Bam!_

Hibari exited from a hole in the wall, covered in dust and concrete debris. He scanned his new surroundings and spotted Dino's figure. Dino's sweat turned cold from the murderous gaze he felt as his back and he smiled. "Catch you guys later," he waved as he began running. "Come on, Romario!" he beckoned to his aid while running up a staircase.

"Yes, Boss." And before another word could be uttered, Romario followed the Cavallone's leader with Hibari—whose vision was only set on his prey—running close behind them.

Tsuna starred, half disbelieving and half dumbfounded.

Miss Smith ignored the havoc that was still ongoing. "Now, if you'll come with me, we'll get you all set up and you can get cleaned up before dinner." She turned and headed for the staircase.

"Sounds great," Yamamoto smiled, walking into the mansion with Ryohei right behind.

The third-year shouted as he made punches in the air, "Look at that intense workout! It's getting me pumped up to the extreme!"

"Shut up, Lawn-Hair! It's already loud enough with that weird guy and the Bucking Bronco smashing the place up!" Gokudera yelled as he followed his fellow guardians inside.

Yuki rested a hand on Tsuna's shoulder and the brunette looked up, only to see a smile hinting pain, sorrow, and nostalgia behind happiness and joy. "Let's go, Tuna." She started walking ahead, but stopped when she realized Tsuna didn't follow. "Tuna are you coming?"

"Ah, yeah," Tsuna smiled as he entered the house. He took a quick step and passed Yuki, slowing his pace as he reached the staircase. The Snow Guardian followed silently behind, making sure that Tsuna didn't misplace his feet and fall backwards.

The two walked on, quite distant from the rest of the group but still able to see their figures follow the middle-aged maid. For Tsuna, the silence that had grown and spread like the vines on the wall of the Cavallone Mansion had become daunting and quite unsettling.

Silence plagued Tsuna's mind as did Yuki's painful smile. He bit his lip, still unsure whether or not he should pose a question about the history behind the pain she so desperately tried to conceal but fruitlessly ended with a cracked dam that let too much hints flow from its gaps.

Without realizing it, Tsuna's voice decided to ask for him, "Uh, Yuki-san…"

"Is something the matter?" Yuki asked as they continued walking. Her voice was as low as Tsuna's.

The brunette swallowed, now wondering why he let himself speak up. "W-Why is it when you're smiling that you seem so sad?"

The dark-haired guardian gave a light chuckle, "What are you talking about? When someone smiles, it means they're happy, silly Tuna…"

Worry knit Tsuna's eyebrows and he whispered, "You're doing it again, Yuki-san…"

Yuki looked down at Tsuna in surprise, another forced emotion. "Doing what?"

"You're lying to yourself," the boy answered, "I can see it in your face. Please, tell me what's wrong, Yuki-san. I don't want to see you have that pained expression."

She paused in step and averted her gaze as she let out a sigh, "It's nothing to be worried about."

"If it were nothing, then you wouldn't be sighing and you wouldn't look so sad!" Tsuna persisted in a harsh whisper as he also came to a halt. In his mind, he drew a blank and asked himself: _Why do I keep talking?_

Yuki raised her voice, "I said it was nothing!"

Miss Smith stopped as well as Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Ryohei. They turned and stared at Tsuna and Yuki. The Snow Guardian looked at them with a glare through the corner of her eye. Gokudera's eyebrows furrowed as he saw Tsuna's worried expression. He took a step toward them, but was pulled back by Yamamoto and Ryohei. "Leave them be for now," Miss Smith whispered to Gokudera.

The silver-haired boy stared at Miss Smith, with eyes half full of anger and half full of determination. He shook off the jocks' grip. "I don't take orders from anyone but Tenth!"

Yamamoto took hold of Tsuna's Storm Guardian again, this time with a tighter grip. He shook his head, "Gokudera, don't. Let Tsuna and Yuki-san talk by themselves."

Gokudera pulled his wrist out of Yamamoto's hands and rubbed the region where the baseball star had held him. "I don't need you to tell me what's best for Tenth. I can do that _without _your help…"

"Then, we'll go get you boys to your rooms in the meantime," Miss Smith announced as she began walking away. "Come along now, don't lag."

After Tsuna watched them go and they were out of sight, he turned back to Yuki, who also stared at him. "Now please, tell me what's wrong, Yuki-san."

She remained silent.

"Are you having nightmares?"

"No."

"Did Reborn say something to upset you?"

"No."

"Then what is it?"

Yuki let out a sigh. She just couldn't win when she stared into Tsuna's innocent honey-caramel eyes. "I didn't tell you before, but the only reason why Giotto was forced to go to Japan is my fault. I told D. Spade about Giotto's fear of Riccardo and that _snake_ told Riccardo. As much as I don't want to remember it, I can't help but think of it again…" Her body began to tremble and she slunk to the floor, tears welling up and streaming before she could stop them and compose herself. "The blood spilled that day, it was all my fault…Knuckle, Alaude, Ugetsu, G., Rampo, Giotto…They all got hurt that day and it was my fault. I failed to protect them. I failed as a guardian. I couldn't keep my mouth shut for a secret for my childhood friend…"

Tsuna watched quietly, almost paralyzed and definitely unsure of what to do. He knelt in front of Yuki and stroked her back. "Yuki-san…I'm sure Giotto-san would understand…You didn't tell D. Spade because you were being a bad friend, you were telling D. Spade to lift the burden off your shoulder as Giotto had done upon you."

Yuki looked up into Tsuna's eyes, "B-But, I could've told anybody else! Alaude, Ugestu, G., Knuckle—even Rampo, but I didn't tell them! I told D. Spade! I gave him what he needed to betray Giotto!"

"You all trusted D. Spade, Yuki-san. Not just you. I'm sure Giotto-san had the most faith in D. Spade in comparison to the other guardians. Just like how I trust Chrome and Mukuro more than Gokudera and Hibari do," Tsuna assured her.

Yuki felt a rod of guilt and memories plunge into her chest and remain fixated, sending out surges of pain that activated tremors in her body. Quietly she whispered, only barely audible to Tsuna's ears, "And, after betraying Giotto's secret to D. Spade, I left the others to fend for themselves while I went to sleep in a cave…I abandoned them…"

"Yuki-san, you didn't do it on purpose! You had no idea that you would have frozen yourself!" Tsuna argued. He put his hands on Yuki's cheeks. His eyes were in empathy with her feelings of pain and suffering. "Yuki-san, you didn't give up on purpose. You did your best to defend Giotto-san from being killed, from being captured. You did your job as a Vongola Guardian." Slowly, a kind, soft smile graced his lips. "Yuki-san—"

Dying flame. Lifeless blue sky. Drops of red. Betrayal.

"_Yuki, where did you go?"_

Instantly, Yuki slapped away Tsuna's hands. Where the teenage boy knelt, a blond man appeared, confusion taking shape where the elegant, gently smile once was.

"W-What's wrong?" the blond man asked as he got closer to Yuki. The teenage boy reappeared, taking the young man's place, "Yuki-san?"

Yuki clasped her hands over her ears, backing into the hallway's wall. "No…Stay…Stay away from me!" she yelled. The metal band around her finger burned cold silver and spread. Ice shot out of the ground around Yuki. Tsuna barely escaped the impaling ice, but had not escaped unmarked. Small cuts littered the brunette's sweater and a few spears cut his face. Blood began to trickle from the scratches he bore. "Get away…"

When no movement was made, she screamed, "_Away_!" Tsuna backed off as another wave of ice shot out from around her, this time evading the assault.

With a growing seed of concern and its tight roots around his heart, the teenage boy ran away from the sobbing woman as tears of his own ran down his cheeks.

* * *

Night had fallen over the Cavallone mansion as well as the rest of Italy. Small stars speckled the sky, barely visible—hidden by clouds.

The dinner table was utterly quiet and the only one that had attempted to keep the silence away was the host.

"…And that's what happened before you guys got here," he finished with a smile. Tsuna looked up at Dino, covered with Band-Aids which were also covered by white bandages, courtesy of Romario.

"I see. So did you enjoy today?" Tsuna asked, trying to continue the conversation so that the silence couldn't settle.

"If you mean it was much more eventful, then yes I did."

Hibari pushed his chair out and stood up.

"Kyouya! Where are you going? You didn't even have dessert yet!" Dino hollered after the school prefect as he left the dining area. The Bucking Bronco let out a sigh and relaxed in his chair. "Oh well, I guess he's probably worn out now."

There was no answer this time, not even a small chuckle at the attempt to bring life back to the group of gathered teenagers. Dino slouched and looked up at the ceiling, then stole a glance at the seat reserved for Yuki, who hadn't joined them and retired to her bed early.

"Sorry," Tsuna apologized, perking everyone's attention to the boy. He chased a pea around his plate, which still had more than half the food he was served, as he continued, "If I hadn't pushed so hard, Yuki-san wouldn't be in her room alone and there wouldn't be such a bad atmosphere. I'm sorry for making your home seem so sad…"

Dino smiled, "It's fine, but I don't think it should be me you apologize to."

Tsuna looked up at his senior in desperation. His hazel eyes searched for an answer. "B-But Yuki-san wouldn't even let me stay within five feet of her! How can I apologize! I…I know what I did was bad, but how can I? What can I do to make it up to her?"

"Just give her time, Tsuna. She'll come around, and then you can use that moment to apologize to her…"

The brunette was silent for a moment, but then broke the quiet he had created. "You're probably right, and I hope you are…"

High on the staircase, ears listened to the sullen tone of a defeated and tired chestnut mess. A fist formed as cold, pale fingers squeezed together tightly. Eyelids fell over a blind eye and a sapphire eye in an elongated blink. Then, the ears, the eyes, the fist…they all flocked from their base at the height of the stairs and into a room of the Cavallone Mansion, engulfed in the darkness behind a closed door and censored stars from a glass window.

* * *

_End Chapter Eight_

_Sorry it took a while!_

_In case nobody noticed/know, I try to update The Lost Ring monthly (or sooner if possible). So I'm glad that so many of you are kind and understanding and wait so patiently._

_I'll try to update a bit sooner and don't worry, I'm not going to leave this story unfinished. The next few chapter plots have already been planned. ^^_

_I hope this chapter satisfies you guys!_

_As always, reviews always welcome! ^^_

_luv you all! X3_


	9. Chapter Nine: Secrets

_Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyou Hitman Reborn, all credit goes to Akira Amano._

_By the way, if I haven't mentioned yet, the time that this story takes place was supposed to be before the whole future arc, but I kind of screwed that up with the appearance of Hibari's box weapon…And the mention of Chrome making illusions with her ring…Agh, it's a mess…_

_Anyways, let's just say that this is a 'parallel world' a bit into the future, maybe by…like…half a year? And that this happened before the Shimon arc. ^^_

_

* * *

_

_**Secrets**_

_Crash!_

Tsuna woke up with a start and looked around the room. He looked for his friends, his guardians, his roommates. The two beds to his left were empty with the one next to him occupied by Gokudera, who had a book in his hands.

"Is everything alright, Tenth?" Gokudera asked as he took off his reading glasses and folded them onto the nightstand. He set his book down before swinging his feet over the edge and walking over to his friend and boss.

"Ah, y-yeah…" Tsuna answered, scratching the back of his head. "Uh…Did you hear that, Gokudera?"

He blinked, confused. "What noise?"

_Crash! Clang!_

Tsuna jumped at the noise. "T-That one!"

"Oh, that…I told them to keep it down…" Gokudera stomped over to the window, pushing the glass panes out of the way. "Hey! Baseball-nut and Lawn-Hair! Keep down your practicing! You're giving Tenth a headache!"

The brunette paled. "I-It's not that extreme, Gokudera! And…" His facial expression reverted to normal, "if they're practicing, it's okay. I understand. Oh did you guys have breakfast yet?"

Gokudera shook his head, "No, not yet. But Miss Smith said she'd call us when the food's ready."

_Knock! Knock!_

The two boys' head turned to the door and Dino slipped in, already dressed and ready for the day. "Hey little guys, breakfast is ready!" he announced, clapping his hands together.

"About time, Bucking Bronco! Tenth was getting hungry!" Gokudera headed for the door, avoiding contact with Dino as he slipped by him.

Dino chuckled, "So, are you coming, Tsuna?"

"Yeah, in a second. I'll be there after I get changed first," Tsuna smiled.

Dino returned the boy's bright expression with a soft smile of his own. "Alright." He turned to leave but stopped at the doorway. "Oh, I don't know if you knew already, but Reborn still hasn't arrived."

The brunette's eyes grew twice their size and he scrambled out of his bed over to Dino in disbelief. Amber orbs searched frantically for answers in the older Mafioso's. "W-Wait, are you serious? But he said that he'd come here later!"

"Did he say any specific time?" Dino asked.

Tsuna flashed back to Reborn's parting words at the airport and sadness settled where disbelief once occupied. "N-No…He didn't…"

"Then he probably won't be back for at least another day," Dino mumbled.

"Eh? D-Did you say something, Dino?" the brunette asked.

The blond boss shook his head, "It's nothing to worry about. And I'm sure Reborn will come up soon. Don't worry too much, okay?"

Tsuna looked down at the floor. Even though Dino told him not to, he couldn't help but feel an ache in his chest and worry flood his mind. "A-Alright…"

From in the hallway, Chrome stood next to the door against the wall. "Boss…" she mumbled quietly with worried stitches between her brows. The grip around her trident's staff tightened until her knuckles whitened.

* * *

A woman walking down the hallway of the Cavallone Mansion rehearsed, "Tuna, I want to talk to you about last night. I acted very strangely for no reason and I shouldn't have hurt you. I'm your Guardian and it's my job to protect you, even your feelings." As she reached the door her boss was staying in, she turned around and started walking away, only to end up walking back to the closed wooden door. She stood, staring, still unsure of how she was going to apologize. Then, she raised her hand in a fist, keeping it stationary, still unsure of how to act towards the younger boy. Just as she was about to hit the door, it opened and the mansion's owner was face to face with her.

Both stared at each other until the woman dropped her fist to her side. "Uh…is Tuna inside?"

The man blinked. "Tuna? Oh, Tsuna? Yeah, he's still inside. I'm going down to breakfast right now, so after you two are done, come down and eat, okay?" He smiled as he squeezed past the Snow Guardian and walked to the staircase.

The woman took a hesitant step into the room. "Uh…Tuna?" she called out. Tsuna walked out of his closet at the sound of the nickname.

He blushed as he hurriedly slipped on a shirt over his thin body. "Y-Yuki-san," he waddled over to her, tripping over his pajama pants that baggily wrapped around his feet.

Yuki rushed over and knelt next to her boss. "Are you alright?" she asked.

As she was about to help him up, Tsuna spoke, "Ah…Yuki-san, about last night…I'm sorry. I shouldn't have tried to pry so much like I did. I probably made you think of some stuff you were trying to forget and, well…it wasn't my place to pry. I'm sorry…again…"

Yuki felt the tension that she once felt in her heart release its grip. She helped her boss sit-up and pressed her forehead against his. The cool of her skin numbed the pain in Tsuna's forehead from his fall. Her eye stared into his as she spoke, "I was in the wrong for being so rude to you and acting like that, so you don't need to apologize. Last night, I wasn't thinking straight." She closed her eyes, "I should have been able to control my emotions better like Ugetsu would have. And I understand now that you were only asking out of concern."

Tsuna stared at his Snow Guardian. Now that she was so close to him, he could see puffy bags under her eyes. "Yuki-san…were you up all night?"

Yuki opened her eyes, a bit surprised by the question. She sat up straight, "Yes, I was."

"Can…Can I ask why?" he squeaked.

"Well, I was thinking about what you said and what I did to you," she answered as she lightly touched the band-aid on his cheek. "And I was trying to think of a way to make it up to you."

"That's it? If that's all, then you should have just slept instead."

Yuki averted her gaze, "Well, that and, I was thinking about Giotto and everyone."

"Giotto and everyone?" Tsuna asked, "Um…Is it okay if I ask what about?"

A small smile appeared on Yuki's face and she cupped Tsuna's cheeks in her hands. "Silly Tuna, you don't need to be so cautious now. Politeness is good and well for a person, but as Vongola Decimo you need to be stronger when you ask questions. Your subordinates are there to help and follow you, so don't be afraid of them or what they might do. And, to answer your question, it's fine to ask me what I was thinking about."

Tsuna blushed, "I-I'll keep that in mind…So, what were you thinking about last night, Yuki-san?"

Yuki's hands fell to her side as she pushed herself up and then pulled Tsuna to his feet. She led him to the beds and sat across from him. "Well, when I was young, I was suffering from a terminal illness and was constantly put into the hospital. I can't remember much about hospital life, but I can remember the times that Giotto came to visit me when I was in there. One time he brought me flowers—star cosmos, he called them, they were very pretty—and another time he brought a friend with him." She closed her eyes as the memories flooded back to her.

* * *

_Knock! Knock!_

_A black-haired girl turned to the glass window of her room. She quickly checked for anyone in the room then walked over to the window and opened it. Then, a blond boy crawled into the room and was followed by a red-haired boy._

"_Hey, I brought someone else with me." The blond boy smiled as he gave an introduction for his follower, "This is G.. He's the same age as us and one of my closest friends."_

_The girl smiled at the red-haired boy, "Nice to meet you, G.."_

_G. snorted and averted his gaze from the pale girl, "Whatever…"_

_The smile on the girl's face slowly faded away. "I-I'm sorry if I made you mad…"_

"_Oh yeah? Then you should have—"_

_The blond boy covered his friend's mouth. "I'm sorry, G.'s not a bad person, but he doesn't really like meeting new people."_

"_That's not true, Giotto!" G. shouted as he removed the hand from over his face. "It's not new people that are the problem! It's people that are close to you that I've never met before and girls!"_

_Giotto sighed, "G., when we both met Ugetsu at the same time, you hated him, too."_

"_That music-crazed freak is a different story," G. mumbled. "The instruments he plays are weird and they freak me out. You know that thing that looks like a guitar or violin that he plays?"_

"_A shamisen?" Yuki questioned._

_G. shot her a glare, "Yeah…that." He turned to Giotto again, "It gives me the creeps! I mean, who uses an instrument made of cat skin! That's just too weird!"_

_Giotto chuckled, "G., don't you think you're overreacting just because you own a pet cat, too?"_

_G.'s face turned red and he shouted, "Leave Uri out of this!"_

_Behind the door, footsteps could be heard and then there was knocking. "Is everything alright in there?"_

_The little girl rushed the two boys under her bed and climbed back under the covers just as the door opened. "Everything's fine," she smiled. "I just got really warm so I opened the window."_

_The woman standing at the doorway sighed and made her way to the window, shutting it closed. "You know that you're supposed to keep it closed! What if your fever rises up again."_

"_I'm sorry," the little girl apologized. "I didn't mean to worry you."_

"_Alright, alright. Try to get some rest then. I'll be back with your dinner in a few hours, okay?"_

_The girl nodded, "Okay."_

_Then the woman left, closing the door behind her. As soon as the door shut, the girl hung over the edge of the bed upside down and peered at the two boys who were surrounded by dust bunnies. "She's gone, guys."_

_G. sneezed as he and Giotto crawled out of their hiding spot._

"_Try not to be too loud, okay, G.?" the girl smiled. "Otherwise a scarier nurse lady will come and kick you guys out and then we won't be able to play anymore."_

"'_We'? Don't you mean you and Giotto?" G. growled as he wiped away his snot with his sleeve._

_An expression of pain and sadness formed on the small girl's face. "No…I meant all of us. You're Giotto's friend and I want to play with you as well. The more the merrier, right?" she smiled with a false happiness twisted by pain._

"_G., that wasn't very nice," Giotto commented. "I brought you with me because I wanted you and Yuki and I to be friends and play together."_

"_S-Sorry…" G. blushed, rubbing his arm. "I didn't mean to upset you, Giotto."_

_Giotto smiled, "If you're going to apologize, you should apologize to the right person, right?"_

_G. turned an even darker shade of red as he turned to the hospital patient. "I-I'm…s-s-sor…sorr—I can't do this!" He glared at the little girl, whose countenance reflected shock at the sudden outburst by the redheaded boy. "Look, girl, I don't care if you're close to Giotto or whatever, but he's my best friend before yours, got that? And, the only reason I'll ever talk to you or play with you is because of Giotto! Got it?"_

_There was a silence filled with G.'s heavy breaths from his speech. The girl covered her mouth with her hand as she stifled something inside her mouth. Then, she let out a giggle, that turned into a chuckle, then into laughter. G. stared at her as if she were an alien and then at his best friend as Giotto joined her. After a few more seconds, G. also started laughing with the rest of them._

_When the laughter finally died down, the girl wiped away a tear of happiness from the corner of her eye. "I hope to get along with you, too, G." she smiled._

* * *

Tsuna smiled awkwardly, "T-That sounds like something Gokudera would do…"

Yuki nodded. "Your _Guardiano di Tempesta_ always reminded me of how G. used to be. In fact, I would say most of your Guardians remind me of the others. That's why, when I first met them, I thought they were my friends and my fellow colleagues. Alaude is especially like your _Guardiano di Nuvole_."

Tsuna laughed, "Really?"

"Yes, but that's a story for another time." She glanced over at the clock hanging on the wall above the door. "We should have breakfast before the food goes cold."

Tsuna followed her gaze and his eyes widened, "It's already this late already?" He jumped off the bed, fumbling over his own pants again. But this time, he didn't fall. "Yuki-san, you should go ahead of me. I'll finish getting dressed and then come down, okay? And tell Dino I'm sorry for making him wait."

Yuki strode towards the door, "You got it, Tuna."

* * *

(Cavallone Library)

"Hey, did you find anything on the Medici, baseball nut?" Gokudera barked as he scrolled through another page of links.

Yamamoto pushed a book back into its spot on the bookshelf, "Sorry, Gokudera, I can't find much on them except what you already know."

"Octopus-Head…I don't get it." Ryohei thought aloud as he clicked onto another page of links on his computer. "Why are we researching the Medici when we're only here to see if that weird pineapple guy is okay?"

Gokudera sighed, "Well, if you really have to know, Lawn-Hair…Something tells me that the Medici are connected to that guy's disappearance and that _his_ disappearance is connected Yuki-san and what the Medici want her. The Medici only started to harass us when Yuki-san appeared in their plane. I suspect that that Medici guy we saw yesterday is either their leader or someone with high authority. And, that he wants Yuki-san or something that she has."

Yamamoto and Ryohei stared at him silently, but with a serious gaze that matched the tense atmosphere. Gokudera stared back at them then let out a sigh. "If you guys don't understand, that's fine. Just find as much stuff as you can on the Medici, okay?"

"Got it!" the jocks answered simultaneously as they continued searching with a newfound determination.

* * *

(Cavallone Backyard)

Dino outstretched his limbs on the back of the bench in his yard, resting as he waited for Hibari to find him. He looked up at the sky through a bushel of leaves before he closed his eyes and lay his head against the bench's back. He jumped to alertness when he felt shaded and cool from the sun's warmth and heat. His eyes opened to see the purple-haired Vongola Mist Guardian. He smiled out of habit and instinct, "Hey, is something wrong?"

Chrome looked down at her feet with her trident in front of her, acting like a veil. "It's…about Mr. Reborn."

Dino's face grew serious and he slid over, opening up room on the bench for her to sit. He patted the seat. "Let's hear it."

The girl looked at the empty spot then up at Dino then back down before she took the seat. "Before, when I came here with the little cow-boy, Mr. Reborn told me that he was going to leave for a meeting of the Arcobaleno. And to keep this a secret from Boss and the others, but…I don't want to keep it a secret from Boss if it means hurting Boss."

Dino's face softened and he patted Chrome on the back. "If Reborn told you that much then he must have a great deal of faith in you. And, even if Tsuna is getting hurt from worrying over Reborn not being here, he'd still worry—if not worry more—over the fact that Reborn is in a meeting with the Arcobaleno and won't know when he'll come back. Reborn trusts Tsuna, but if he's not telling Tsuna about the meeting then it means it's something that will hurt Tsuna more than help. Just relax and think of it this way: you're hiding the truth from your boss to protect him from over-worrying."

Chrome glance up at Dino then at her fingers that fiddled with the staff of her spear. "I'm not sure I can do that…I still feel bad from not telling Boss about Reborn."

"It's fine, Chrome. Reborn knows that you can keep this secret and still keep Tsuna from getting worried, that's why he told you and told you not to tell anyone. It'll be fine, Chrome. Trust me and Reborn; everything will work out. I promise."

"A-Alright…" Chrome agreed. "I still don't like keeping secrets from Boss though."

Dino smiled, "And that's fine, nobody really likes keeping secrets from the people they love."

Chrome smiled, "Thank you, Mr. Dino."

"So you were here the whole time…" At the edge of the garden, Hibari stood armed with a pair of tonfa and a pair of onyx eyes glaring at the blond man. He held the tonfa up in front of him, "I'll bite you to death for trying to escape from me."

Dino rose to his feet and rested a hand over his whip. "Not good…" He started to move away from the bench. "Romario!"

A secret door slid open and Romario entered the area, "Yes, Boss?"

"Are you ready to run?" Dino asked, unrolling his weapon.

"Of course, sir," Romario answered.

"Alright, then let's go!" Dino sped off with Hibari and Romario following him. "Sorry to cut things so short, Chrome!" he called back as he barely evaded a swing of Hibari's tonfa.

* * *

(Forest Cabin)

A wooden door was pushed open and two small babies entered. "I'm sorry I'm late, everybody. I had to take care of some business."

"Welcome, Reborn," a tall woman smiled.

Reborn stared up at the woman. "Where's your mother?"

The woman's eyes widened then turned into a laugh and a smile, "I'm sorry. I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Aria; I am Luche's daughter. Unfortunately, she couldn't come, so I have taken he place for this meeting. Now…" She walked over to the chair at the head of the table and patted the seat next to hers. "Let's begin talking about the sudden appearance ofthe Vongola's Snow Guardian."

* * *

_End Chapter Nine_

_Thanks for reading! And if I wasn't clear before (totally cannot remember), The Lost Ring is updated once a month (if not more). I try to make the intervals regular, but, haha…I just get so busy and caught up with work. So, look forward for an update either later this month or at the start of the next._

_Thanks again and reviews greatly appreciated! _

_~Love you all! 3_


	10. Chapter Ten: Hit and Miss

_Sorry I didn't update this in August and that it's so short. __

_Oh, and I just finished catching up with everything that's happened in KHR manga and anime. And I was so psyched when I found out I was right about what Daemon Spade's betrayal was! Man, I couldn't help but feel overwhelmingly happy when I realized I figured it out. But I guess it was obvious-ish? I don't know; correct me if I was wrong._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyou Hitman Reborn; Akira Amano does._

_

* * *

_

_**Hit and Miss**_

_A field of dark, damp earth stretched as far the eye could see and back. On the earth's barren soil a single white blossom grew, covered in dark dust and drops of dew that strewn down pale cheeks from closed lids. "Master Mukuro…where are you?" the flower whispered, only answered by her own echo in the wasteland._

_Then, another voice resounded in her ears. "Chrome…"_

_The flower bloomed and life came roaring back with a breath-taking wind. Standing in front of her in a meadow of green, a man stood. He looked down at her with mismatched eyes. "Hello, my cute and precious Chrome."_

_The blossom sprouted a stem and leaves unfurled as the pale limbs wrapped around the figure in front of her. "Master Mukuro! You're alright…"_

_A smile formed on her master's face as he wrapped his arms around her and gave her frail body a small squeeze. "I'm back, but not forever. I have something I want to show you…"_

_She withdrew from his arms and stared into his eyes curiously and expectantly. "What is it, Master Mukuro?"_

_The man slid his hand down her arms until only one hand remained in hers. He tugged her along behind him as the landscape changed into darkness._

_Tension grasped his palm._

_And he smiled, "Don't worry, my cute Chrome. I'm not leaving yet." He stopped at the center of several tomes and volumes of floating books and papers. From the floating references, he stole a scroll and handed it to the girl's free hand. "This is the blueprints of the Medici Laboratory in Italy and the place where I am right now. Give this to one of Tsunayoshi's friends."_

_His hands began to fade and worry shaped on the girl's face. "Master Mukuro…"_

"_Ku fu fu…" he chuckled. "Do not fret. I'm just returning to my game of hide-and-seek with Romulus Medici. However, I'm afraid the game will be over soon. Be sure to come for me when this little game of ours is finished. I'll be waiting, Chrome…"_

_

* * *

_

The female Mist Guardian woke up with a start. She looked down at her hands, which were clutched around a thing, long scroll. "This is…" Then, she scooted over to the edge of the bed and searched for her roommate, who she found out on the terrace, soaking in the refreshing heat of the morning sun.

Rather than disturb her older roommate, she rushed out of the room in search of one of her boss's other guardians. The first she saw was the tall baseball player, who turned at the sound of pounding footsteps on the hardwood floor.

"Ah, hey. I thought it was going to be Gokudera. You see, I made a mess in the bathroom earlier when I was getting ready for some practice."

Chrome nodded, unsure if it was the correct response to his random statement. "Uh, please give this to Mr. Gokudera." She thrust the scroll in front of her, raised as she bowed for its presentation.

Yamamoto gave her a confused stare than changed the target of his stare to the scroll. He picked up the lightweight rolled paper and peaked through one end, only to see the floor. "What is this?" he asked as he held it as his side.

"I…found some blueprints of the Medici hideout. I was going to give it to Boss, but I didn't want to bother him if he was still sleeping. So I planned on giving it to Mr. Gokudera, but…"

Yamamoto clasped a hand on her shoulder and let out a hearty chuckle. "It's fine. You don't need to explain yourself. We're part of the same team, so I won't ask where you got it from. I'm sure Gokudera will be happy to hear that you found this." He held up the scroll as a notion to it.

Chrome nodded. "Then…I'm going to get ready for breakfast…" she mumbled as she turned and went back to her room.

"See you later then," Yamamoto smiled and waved with his free hand.

Past the room Chrome entered, a door swung open and Tsuna's Storm Guardian, wrapped in a towel at his waist scanned the hallway until he laid his eyes on Yamamoto. "Oi! Baseball nut!" Gokudera's voice growled as he rushed over to the Rain Guardian. The soap suds in his hair stung his eye, knitting his eyebrows even closer together as they stung. "Why'd you leave that kind of thing in the bath?"

Yamamoto laughed. "Sorry, Gokudera." Then he remembered the scroll in his hand after a quick glance downwards. "Oh! Hey, I got a copy of blueprints for the Medici's hideout."

Gokudera's eyes went wide and he snatched the scroll from Yamamoto, reading over the notes and scanning the diagrams. He looked up at Yamamoto with a dissatisfied grumble. "At least you've actually contributed something for once." Then he began his stomp back to the bathroom.

"Hey, that kind of hurt," Yamamoto laughed awkwardly as the wood door slammed shut.

* * *

Tsuna walked through the hallways of the Cavallone Mansion, searching for his blond mentor as he made his way through. He stopped in front of an open door and peered inside. His face paled as he saw Ryohei on all fours being ridden like a horse by Lambo.

"Don't you know how to run you stupid cat?" the baby grumbled as Ryohei whinnied like a horse.

Ryohei exploded, "Hey, little kid, I'm an extreme horse! Not a cat! See? Neigh! Neigh!"

Lambo broke out into a fit of laughter, "What a funny dog! He sounds just like a sheep!"

The color in Tsuna's face drained completely at that point, but he shook his head and came back to his senses. He walked in, pretending that he never heard Lambo mix up his animals. "H-Hey, uh…Did you see Dino?" Tsuna asked.

The older boy looked up at Tsuna, "Huh? Dino? Well…I think he went sparring with Hibari again—the lucky guy! If only Master was here! Then I'd be sparring all day long to the extreme, too!"

"Ah, is that so?"

Ryohei stared at Tsuna, who stood, looking down at his feet. "Is something wrong, Sawada?" he asked as he grabbed Lambo and crossed his legs. He set the boy in cow-print on his head and the small boy wreaked havoc on the teen's messy hair.

"N-No! It's nothing!" Tsuna shook his head. "Well, uh…If you see him. Can you tell him I'm going out?"

"Out? Are you going to do some intense, extreme training?" Ryohei asked as his spirit fired up once again.

"No! No! I'm not going out to train! I'm just going out to look at the sites a bit more. That's all."

"Then maybe you should go with Octopus-Head, too. You know, so you don't get lost or anything."

"Gokudera locked himself in the library and is studying really hard, so I'm going to go with Yuki-san instead. We'll be back before dinner, okay?" Tsuna smiled.

"Have some extremely great fun then!" Ryohei replied as he tossed a giggling Lambo into the air.

* * *

In the streets of Italy, Tsuna walked silently beside the taller, older, raven-haired woman next to him. This time, she was dressed in a white wide-brimmed hat decorated with a blue satin ribbon and in a white sundress, with a matching tie just under her bust. Her bulbous sunglasses covered a blind eye and a deep blue one.

The brunette glanced up at his companion, unsure of what to say. Although the problems between them were resolved, he couldn't muster up any courage to talk about anything and didn't even know where a conversation could start.

"Is something wrong, Tuna?" The guised woman asked in a low whisper. "You seem a bit nervous."

Tsuna scratched the back of his head. "Well, I guess I am a bit nervous…This is the first time in a while that I've been able to talk to you without anybody else around without anything crazy happening. I guess…I'm just anticipating something bad is going to happen?"

The woman couldn't help but smile and she rested an assuring hand on his shoulder. The brunette looked up at her. "Don't worry too much, Tuna. With me here, things won't go wrong. And even if they do, I'll be here to protect you."

Tsuna smiled back sheepishly, "Yeah, thank you, Yuki-san." He looked up at the blue sky dotted with wispy clouds, feeling a refreshing breeze blow over him. "It's a bit hard to imagine that such a beautiful and lively place has dangerous people lurking about."

Yuki's smile faded slowly as her hand slid to her side. "There's danger everywhere, and the more beautiful a place is, the larger the hidden threat is." She stopped in front of a flower boutique, bending in front of a bouquet of star cosmos. Her fingers brushed the soft pale blue petals until she was handed a trimmed rose from the florist. "In a way, towns and cities are like rose bushes. On the outside, you see beautiful flowers. And these beautiful flowers were created by hands that tended and sacrificed some buds' lives to nurture a rose. But, under the beauty lies thorns that not only try to protect the beauty, but hurt those who approach it, including the innocent tenders that get too close and learn about the secret thorns. Then, the tenders avoid the thorns and being attacked by them, and just admire the beauty." Yuki cupped her hand around the rose and let its scent fill her lungs. "But not all thorns are bad. A trimmed rose is a world that has forgotten that sometimes the dangerous things protect the beauty from being crushed because it's only a fragile flower." Her fingers encased the flower and crumpled the petals. When she released her bind, the petals blew away on a soft breeze, along with her hat.

"I'll get it!" Tsuna offered with a smile. He began running after the hat, snatching it only to trip over an untied shoelace.

"Tuna!" the black-haired woman yelled as she rushed over to the boy. When she reached him, he had already pushed himself onto his knees.

"That hurt a lot!" the brunette exclaimed as he checked his forehead, elbows, and hands for blood and scratches.

"Are you alright?"

Tsuna looked up at his disguised company and nodded with a smile, "I'm fine. It's just me being clumsy as usual."

A smile of relief graced the older woman's face as she pulled him onto his feet. "I'm glad you weren't hurt."

"It's alright, a little trip wouldn't have made too big of a—" Tsuna stopped at the familiar sound of a child's laugh and turned towards the direction it came from.

"Wa ha ha ha! You can't catch me, the Great Lambo!" a little boy cackled as he ran through the streets.

Ryohei was behind him a few feet, trying to catch up. "H-Hey! It's dangerous to run off far!" the boxer yelled.

"I'm the Great Lambo! Danger always avoids me!" he laughed. As soon as he made his exclamation, his dragging cloth tail got caught between his legs and he tripped on it.

Tsuna reached out to help the small cow-boy, but in the end, the toddler helped himself up, crying loudly and kicking up a scene. Then, from his black afro, he pulled a large purple bazooka.

"Ah! Lambo, don't play with that here!" Tsuna yelled as he recognized the logic-defying weapon.

"That's not safe!" Yuki exclaimed as she intervened, prying Lambo away from the bazooka's mouth as the child pulled the trigger. Pink smoke rose into the air.

Tsuna's face lost all color with what just happened. "Which one was hit?" he whispered to himself, still in disbelief with the recent turn of events. As the smoke began to thin, Tsuna saw the small cow-boy actually relatively calm and picking his nose. "Then…" He started to look for the ten year-older version of the Snow Guardian, but instead, found a small six year-old girl in Yuki's place. "Y-Yuki-san?" Tsuna exclaimed.

The small girl stared up at the brunette. Her brown eyes reflected confusion and a small amount of fear. "How do you know my name, big brother?" the little girl asked.

Tsuna's eyes widened in shock. "Yuki-san…"

* * *

_End Chapter Ten_

_Thanks for sticking with me despite my horrible promise-keeping. (I swear I inherited this problem)_

_Okay, it sounds like I'm dropping the project or already finished _ But, I'm not..so, :P  
_

_Thanks again, review welcome as always, and…_

_~Love you all! X3_

_(omg, can't wait for ReboCon 2010)_


	11. Chapter Eleven: New Memories

_Recap [for those who don't want to go back and re-read what happened in the previous chapter]: Tsuna and Yuki go out into town, but then a mishap happens and Yuki is hit by the 10 year bazooka. However, instead of appearing ten years older, she appears as a child._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Akira Amano does._

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* * *

_

_**New Memories**_

A third year in middle school with an excited toddler in his arms and a brunette leading the front, hand-in-hand with a six year-old. As the four reached the front door of their temporary living space, the front door blasted open with a blond man landing on his knees in front of the group.

The brunette stumbled back a step in surprise as the older man stood up. "Hey you guys! Everyone else already had lunch. Where were you?"

"Uh…well," Tsuna mumbled, scratching his arm.

"And who's this little girl?" Dino smiled as he crouched down to the girl's height. The girl smiled back.

"My name is Yuki! I'm six years-old!" she answered with her six fingers erect in between the two.

The boss of the Cavallone glanced at the girl's fingers, at the girl's smiling face, then up at Tsuna—who smiled at him awkwardly. He stood up, and although he had a smile on his face. "Alright then, how about you, Ryohei, and Lambo head inside?" Dino suggested to the child.

She tilted her head in askance. "What about big brother?"

"I need to talk to him for a bit before we can head back in."

She looked up at the sky, searching her head for other things she had to say. "Alright! I'll see you later then, Uncle!" she giggled as she skipped towards the house.

"Hey! Lambo is the fastest and the greatest!" the cow-boy yelled. He began pounding on his carrier's chest. "Hurry up and beat that girl, stupid sheep!"

"Roger that!" Ryohei saluted as he began running towards the house.

"Heh heh! You'll never catch me!" the little Yuki smiled as she ran backwards. She jumped the steps almost gracefully but ended up stopping a foot within the house after hitting a pair of legs, landing on the hardwood floor with her bottom. "Owie!" she cried out loud. Then she looked up at what she hit until her eyes met angry onyx.

"You shouldn't be running in the house," the prefect stated, "especially when I'm in the middle of sparring with a man that doesn't know the boundaries of touching others."

"I-I'm sorry," Yuki apologized, looking down at the floor.

"Hnn." The student looked outside, scanning for his prey. He spotted his target with a well-known brunette, turning around after seeing the serious expression on the taller blond's face. "Don't keep sitting in the middle of the entrance or you'll get run-over by two herbivores that don't watch where they're going."

The black-haired girl looked up at the prefect's back then smiled as she hopped back onto her feet. "Okay!" she agreed as she grabbed onto the student's hand.

The boy looked down at the girl then whipped his hand out of her grasp. "I'm going to rest. You should find someone else to play with." Then he walked away from the girl, who began to follow him. Although he could hear her bounding after him, he ignored her as he walked up the staircase.

Dino and Tsuna watched as the entrance became barren. Then, the older mafia boss turned to his junior. "I have a lot of questions to ask about Yuki, but I think you should do some explaining first."

* * *

"Can we play together, _please_? I promise I'll be a good girl and play fair!" the girl pleaded in the hallway to a locked door.

The door remained silent.

"Please, please, _please_?" she pleaded again. This time, there was a reply, but not from the door.

"Ah, if Hibari's taking a rest, you shouldn't disturb him." The small Yuki turned up to the tall boy, who held a plastic bag full of Styrofoam boxes.

She gave the older boy a funny look, who returned her stare with a hearty laugh.

"Sorry, my bad, I should introduce myself first, shouldn't I? I'm Yamamoto Takeshi," the boy smiled as he squat down to eye-level with the girl. "And you are?"

"My name's Yuki," she mumbled, slightly intimidated by the smiling teen.

"How funny! There's this nice lady I'm playing a game with that's also named Yuki!"

Almost instantly, life rushed back to the girl in the form of red blush on her cheeks. "Really? Is she pretty?"

Yamamoto nodded, "She's a very pretty lady."

"Hey! Stupid baseball-nut! I know you're out in the hallway! You better hurry up with the food!"

Yamamoto stood up, staring down the hallway at a door on the left. "Sorry, Gokudera, I'm coming right now!" He turned back to the small Yuki. "I'm sorry, but I have to go now otherwise my friend will get really mad. Let's play together after I'm done working."

The small Yuki averted her gaze to the floor. "Alright. Then let's play together later, Takeshi-bro."

Yamamoto patted her shoulder, "Hey, no sad faces, okay?"

"Baseball nut!"

"Coming! Coming!" Yamamoto answered as he turned away from the small girl. He waved as he left, "See you later, Yuki. You should go play with Ryohei and Lambo!"

Yuki only nodded silently in reply. She cast one last stare at the door next to her before she hopped towards the staircase and down the wooden steps. As she reached the bottom, she bumped into Miss Smith.

"Oh, and who do we have here?" the maid asked.

Yuki looked up with a bit of sadness reflected in her eyes. "My name is Yuki," she answered quietly.

Miss Smith smiled softly at the six year-old, "You must be one of Mr. Sawada's friends. Is there something wrong?"

"No one will play with me," she admitted, scratching her arm in embarrassment for her own spoiled behavior.

"Well, I'm not as young as I used to be, but I think I can help cure your boredom."

Yuki looked up in excitement, "You do?"

Miss Smith nodded, "That's right. Just follow me to the kitchen for a moment."

Yuki smiled enthusiastically as she reached out for Miss Smith's hand. "Okay! But, I have a few questions…"

"Alright, what is it, dear?" Miss Smith asked with patience.

"Well, why is everything so weird here? On the way coming here, we saw giant moving boxes and everyone was dressed all funny. And there were these weird glowing lanterns except they weren't lanterns and there wasn't any fire in them…" Small feet came to a halt, fidgeting as two round eyes looked down at the floor, "And it wasn't very dark. A lot of people seemed very happy, like there was no illness in the air."

Miss Smith knelt down in front of the small girl, whose dark brown eyes seemed to be full of sadness. "Don't worry too much, dear. There's nothing to be afraid of around here. How about we go down to the yard and look at the flowers?"

The little girl's face brightened as a wide smile formed on her face. "Flowers? I love flowers! Let's go! Let's go!" She started running, dragging Miss Smith with her.

* * *

Dino sighed, scratching the back of his head. "If that's the case, then I guess there's no avoiding what's happened." He looked over his shoulder at the entrance of his home. "It's been five minutes since she was hit, right? Let's head back and ask her what happened while she was away."

Tsuna nodded, "Okay." He proceeded with following Dino into the mansion. As they reached the kitchen, the brunette spotted Lambo and Ryohei. "Bro! Have you seen Yuki-san?"

"Yuki-san? Is she back already?" Ryohei asked as his head was pounded upon by Lambo's fists.

The brown-haired teen began to sweat. "N-No, she isn't. How about the little girl that came home with us?"

Ryohei shut his eyes tight, grinding his knuckles into his temples. Tsuna only stared at the weird scene. "Oh! The little girl! I saw her with Miss Smith! They went into the courtyard! The little girl was extremely excited about something…"

"Oh, I see," Tsuna smiled. "Thanks, Bro."

"See you, Sawada!" he yelled back as the brunette jogged away.

Tsuna walked toward the center of the building, where the courtyard could be seen through the windows that encased it. Inside the clear frame, Tsuna could see Yuki sitting in front of the flowers, smiling as Miss Smith watched her from a shaded bench. The soft smile that had formed on Tsuna's face slowly faded into a worried frown as he came to the revelation: Yuki still hadn't changed back yet.

He returned to his "television". The small girl had spotted Tsuna, waved with a giant grin, then ran to Miss Smith with a string of flowers in hand. Miss Smith chuckled as Yuki handed over the line and tied the two ends together, giving it back to Yuki. Then, Miss Smith looked toward the brunette, beckoning him into the garden with her hand.

Tsuna pointed to himself, confused by the action. When she nodded, he strode towards the closest entrance to the courtyard. He had only just entered the garden when he was tackled by a small black-haired six year-old. "Y-Yuki!"

"Hi, big brother!" she looked up at him with her arms around his legs, smiling. Her cheeks were slightly reddened from running and sitting our in the sun. "Can you kneel down for a bit?" Yuki asked as she skipped backwards, hiding her hands behind her.

Tsuna looked at her in confusion and then up at Miss Smith, who had risen from her seat. She nodded to the brunette as she left and Tsuna did what the little girl had requested. "Like this?" he smiled as he went down on one knee.

Yuki nodded, "Now close your eyes!" Tsuna did as he was told. In a second, he felt soft petals grace his messy hair. He opened his eyes, finding large brown orbs staring at his face. They were hidden away by lids as a large smile graced the girl's face. "Now you can be the king of the garden!" she laughed.

Tsuna smiled, "Thank you, Yuki."

The girl's face burned tomato red.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

Yuki shook her head vigorously. "No, it's nothing…" she mumbled. Then her head popped up again with a smile and she grabbed Tsuna's hand, dragging him to the tree where Miss Smith once sat under. "Sit," she ordered Tsuna, pointing to the stone bench. The brunette complied and watched as Yuki climbed onto the seat in the space next to him. She looked up at the sky through the tree leaves. "It's so pretty here," she wondered aloud.

"Yeah, it's very pretty," Tsuna agreed. Then he felt Yuki's head lean against his arm and he looked down at the six year-old, worry knitting his eyebrows together. "Is something wrong?"

"I don't want to leave this place. I don't want to leave big brother or go back to the lonely room or see the yucky streets. I don't want to see the cold people lying on the stone roads with that weird look in their eyes. It's scary there. I don't want to go back."

Tsuna stroked her hair with his arm, causing Yuki to land on his thigh. He said nothing, only watched the small girl and listened.

"It's sad where I came from. People were sick and dying. I was stuck in a room all by myself. I had nothing to do except watch other kids running outside on the streets," the small girl lamented, "The only time I ever got to play was when my friend came over."

"Your friend?" Tsuna questioned.

Yuki nodded, "It was only when Giotto came over that I was happy. I never got to spend time outside, but he'd always come visit me in secret. Sometimes he would bring G. and sometimes he wouldn't. Either way, he always made me very happy. When he visited me, he'd bring me flowers. He called them 'star cosmos'. They're my favorite flowers, but there aren't any here."

Tsuna recalled the flower boutique he had stopped in front of with the older Yuki and the same story that she had told him earlier. "Why do you like star cosmos, Yuki?"

"Because they're the flowers that Giotto used to bring me. Before I was put into that room, Giotto and I would play around in large open fields and we would look up at the stars. He would tell me which stars made pictures, even though I couldn't see the pictures as well as he could, and he would always tell stories about the pictures." Yuki sat up. "Even though the days I was alone were painful. Even though I had to drink yucky, bitter stuff and had to eat yucky food, I still had fun." She sighed, "I don't even feel bad, but the scary lady working at the orphanage said I was very sick and that I would die if I didn't stay in my room."

"You're an orphan?" Tsuna questioned, surprised by what the little girl had said.

Yuki nodded, "The scary lady said Mommy and Daddy died in a fire. I lived with other kids that the scary lady said were also 'very sick'. At night time, sometimes I could hear other kids screaming. I didn't know what happened when it was dark in the orphanage. But when we had to line up for breakfast, I saw that some of the kids began missing. And outside, where kids used to play, there was a giant oven. It always smelled bad, and no one went near it."

Tsuna stiffened; his intuition was inserting dark thoughts into his head as the six year-old girl continued her story.

The black-haired girl huddled into a ball, hiding her face in her arms. "One night, I got really, really thirsty. It was very dark, so I thought the scary lady was asleep. Even though we weren't allowed to go out of our rooms when it was dark, I was just so thirsty." She started to sniffle. "Then, when I opened the door, I saw the scary lady. She had a fire burning on a stick. She was in front of two really big boys. One was in front of the other. And, between them was the old blanket that everybody used to use to go on picnics with. It was supposed to be white, and because no one used it in forever, it should have looked nice. But…But…It wasn't. There was this large red spot in the middle and on the part where it was folded. The red dropped onto the floor as the two big boys walked." Yuki swallowed, "I was still thirsty, so I left my room. I was going to sneak behind the big boys, but when I got to the end of the wing and looked at the scary boys, I saw into the picnic blanket. I saw one of the kids inside the blanket and a lot of hands and feet. I screamed…Then….Then the scary lady turned around."

The brunette's eyes widened; the color from his skin drained. His body began to shake. "Yu…"

"She hit me with the big candle. It was really hot and it hurt a lot," Between each sentence, Yuki's sob surfaced, but she kept pushing it away. "I started crying because it hurt so much. But when I start thinking about Giotto, it hurt a lot less. I knew that Giotto would come save me. But, he didn't come. Then, I couldn't remember what happened after a while. When I woke up, I was in a different room. It wasn't one in the orphanage. It was worse. There was only one window. I was alone. After many days, Giotto came. He told me he was looking for me, but couldn't find me. He brought star cosmos like always, and I cried. I never told him what happened though. I didn't want him to think I was bad and got hit because I was bad. And it was too scary. I didn't want him to be afraid of me and run away. So…I didn't tell anybody." She continued sniffling, but did not sound like she was going to cry anymore. "This new room was also not fun. Even when Giotto came, it was hard for me to smile. It was only seven days ago that I got better from that day. Today, the people were going to let me go outside of my room, but I don't want to go back. I'm afraid. I'm really, really scared—"

Tsuna wrapped his arms around the little girl, whose tears were streaming down her cheeks silently. "Yuki, it's okay. Just remember, Giotto is waiting for you back there. He's probably wondering where you are right now. He probably has star cosmos in his hand and is waiting for you to get out of your room so you can go play. As long as Giotto is by your side, you'll be fine. Don't worry."

Yuki let out a wail. "Big brother!"

"It's okay, Yuki. It's okay. Giotto will always be there to protect you. Please don't worry. I know everything will be okay. You'll grow up and watch over Giotto and protect him. You'll go through tough times, but I know you'll be able to pull through."

As the small girl's shuddering breath calmed down, she mumbled, "Thank you, big brother…"

A cloud of smoke enveloped the small girl and in her stead, the _Guardiano di Neve_ was there.

"T-Tuna?" she questioned, surprised. "What are you doing? Why are you crying? And why are we back at the—"

"Welcome back, Yuki-san," Tsuna interrupted, sniffling.

Yuki stared down at him, still confused, but smiled softly, stroking his back. "Glad to be back."

* * *

_End Chapter Eleven_

_Sorry it took so long. I couldn't decide how I wanted to play it out. However, anyway I did it, it turned out to be angsty. =~=_'l|

_Please forgive me if it's too angsty._

_Reviews please?_°（・ｘ・）。

_~Love you all! X3_

_P.S. __It wasn't a mistake when I said that little Yuki had brown eyes.__ :]_


	12. Chapter Twelve: Truth in Nightmares

_Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, unfortunately [and fortunately]. If I did, I would destroy D. Spade because I hate how his character has turned out. But, I would not be able to handle drawing so many characters so many times in so many panels._

_Anyways, sorry for being on hiatus for so long. Please enjoy this well-deserved long-ish chapter._

* * *

_**Truth in Nightmares**_

Chrome watched the brunette heir and the older guardian from the shaded doorway that connected the courtyard and the mansion. After witnessing the small girl change into the grown Yuki, Chrome didn't know when she should leave the safety of the house to walk out towards her boss. When the two withdrew, she swallowed her discomfort and took a step toward Tsuna.

"Boss," she spoke softly as she approached him.

Tsuna looked up at his Mist Guardian, wiping away the snot and tears on his sleeve. "Hi, Chrome." There was a pause. Yuki watched the two patiently as Tsuna grew somewhat nervous in the quiet atmosphere. Chrome glanced away from the brunette at Yuki then back at him, silently asking him to speak in private.

Without Tsuna saying anything, Yuki smiled, resting a hand on Tsuna's shoulder. "I'm going to check in on how the others are."

"Oh, okay. Then, I'll see you later, Yuki-san," Tsuna smiled, still feeling an awkward aura in the air. The Snow Guardian bowed, and then shot Chrome a short warning glare, before she left the vicinity.

Tsuna turned his amber eyes towards Chrome, "Is there something wrong?"

"I…" she looked down at her toes, clutching the staff of her trident tightly until her knuckles turned white.

Worry clouded Tsuna's face and reached out towards her, touching her shoulder. "Chrome?"

Her eyes widened when she felt his touch. Once she had realized it was him, they returned to their normal size and she drew in a sharp breath. "Last night in my dreams, I saw Master Mukuro."

"M-Mukuro?" Tsuna was helpless as shock surged to his face, occupying his countenance. "Is he alright? What happened to him? Did he look okay?"

"He didn't exactly tell me about his condition, but he did tell me that he was in the Medici Laboratory. Before we lost contact again, he gave me the blueprints for where he was."

"Is he being held captive?" Tsuna asked.

Chrome shook her head. "He didn't say."

"Oh, then what about the blueprints? Did you give it to Gokudera?"

Chrome nodded. Tsuna breathed a sigh of relief and of nervousness, both caused by the news that Mukuro was still alright and a prisoner of the Medici. "Boss, even though I know Master Mukuro is still alive, I'm still afraid that I won't be able to reach him. As he was leaving he seemed to be really tired, and he said something about 'hide-and-seek'."

"Chrome…"

"Boss, you'll help Master Mukuro, won't you?" Chrome asked, her voice hinting desperation.

Tsuna swallowed. He knew he had already agreed to go to Italy with her and help her, but it was getting dangerous; his intuition was going off like crazy, telling him that this encounter would be dangerous beyond belief. "We'll do our best, Chrome," Tsuna smiled uneasily.

The tension in Chrome's hand and on her face dissipated. She closed her eye, smiling, "Thank you, Boss."

* * *

"Hey, baseball nut! Give me page A-3!" Gokudera ordered his dark-haired lackey.

Without a word, Yamamoto quickly thumbed through the papers that Chrome had given him until he found the right one and handed it to Gokudera.

The silver-haired teen snatched the blueprint away, studying it and analyzing it as he jotted down some notes on a separate sheet of paper. Gokudera pushed up his falling glasses that did little to hide the dark bags under his eyes. He scribbled more ink onto the page in front of him and listed more key points of information as well as strategies to break through the Medici's security. "C-1!" Gokudera ordered.

Yamamoto shifted through the papers on the floor until he found the desired plan and handed it to Gokudera. Again, the teen grabbed it from the baseball nut and commenced to draining the ink from his pen. When his pen left no dark marks, he threw it behind him in a stack next to Yamamoto.

"Pen!" Gokudera ordered as the taller teen placed a new pen in the smaller's open hand.

* * *

(Cavallone Mansion, Dining Hall)

"Tenth!" Gokudera came running into the Cavallone dining room with an easel, a giant pad of poster paper, and several scrolls tucked under his arm. "I've done it! I finished!"

The faces of the people seated at the table looked up at Gokudera. Under his eyes were dark bags—a contrast of black on white in comparison to his pale skin—and one eyelid twitched over a green orb. He was smiling widely, like a dog proud of staying up the night for his master's return, and he was panting like he had just run three marathons in a row.

Tsuna looks at him with concern, but before he can say a word, the silver-haired teen strode to the end of the table and set up his easel and pad for a presentation.

He smiled happily to his audience, who just stared back at him. Then he turned to the brunette on his left, who nodded his head awkwardly. "Okay, everyone, listen and listen good! This is the plan for how we're going to invade Medici Labs, alright?"

"Enough with the introduction, please begin, _Guardiano di Tempesta_." Tsuna cast a glance towards Yuki. When he saw her, he felt a chill run down his spine. Her eyes were like cold fire as she stared at Gokudera and he could almost feel something sinister emanate from her.

The chestnut-color haired boy mumbled her name softly, but she had still heard him and turned her attention towards him. The sinister feeling he felt had subsided and she looked at him questioningly. Tsuna forced a smile and mouthed: "nothing". She smiled back, and then turned back to Gokudera; the heavy atmosphere returned.

Gokudera cast Yuki a curt glare before continuing his presentation, his "good mood" vanished. "Anyways, Medichi Laboratory is located on island off the western coast of Italy, a few hundred miles away from Rome." He pointed to a red circle on the map on his right. "Right now we're a bit north of Campobasso. As for our means of transportation, the only way to get to the island is by ship or helicopter. Both ways are conspicuous, but we'll be going with the helicopter. My family—"

"I'll be happy to give you guys a ride to the island," Dino volunteered. Tsuna smiled and thanked him gratuitously while Gokudera spared a second to glare at the Bucking Bronco.

Gokudera cleared his throat loudly, "Anyways, after reaching the island, we will enter through the secret passage at the left of the gate surrounding the corporate front. There are two cameras stationed on two artificial trees are watching the entrance, but we'll be fine and be able to evade their security easily."

"How?" Tsuna asked, staring at Gokudera in confusion.

The silver-haired teen smiled, "We'll be using these, of course!" He pulled out two square frames from his pocket. Tsuna's confusion only grew at the objects' appearance.

Ryohei yelled out. "Those!"

"Yes, these, Lawn-Hair."

"I extremely don't remember seeing those before!"

Everyone in the room paled, staring at Ryohei. Even after all this time, he really hadn't changed.

Gokudera sighed, recomposing himself. "They're image filters! They tamper with the pictures broadcasted by a security camera so that they won't show us! Giannini developed them for us before we invaded the Melone Base. They're what helped us avoid detection while the Tenth fought Dendro Chilum, remember?"

Memories hit Tsuna like a storm. "Ah! Those things! How did you get them?"

The Storm Guardian smiled, twirling a frame around his index finger. "I made them myself. But because I don't have all the parts that Giannini had, I had to settle with what I could salvage. These filters do the job, but they'll only last us ten seconds, so when we're escaping, we most likely won't be able to sneak out."

"Alright, so then, what's next?" Yuki snapped, which brought Tsuna's attention to her again. He opened his mouth to say something, but Gokudera spoke instead.

"Well then, because you find this so interesting, we'll continue through the secret passage way to the opening at the level, B5." The Storm Guardian flipped to a new page and pointed out their route all the way down to the floor number. "There won't be many guards down on B5, but there will be a lot of personnel there. We'll sneak past the personnel and use the staircase to get up to the top floor—floor 22."

"Eh? Then that's twenty-seven flights of stairs to climb!" Tsuna yelled, astonished. "By the time we reach the tenth floor, we'll already be tired!"

"You just need to do some extreme training, Sawada!" Ryohei cheered.

"I disagree with this idea as well, and not only because Tuna is protesting," Yuki objected. Her arms were crossed over her chest and one leg was over the other.

"And why not?" Gokudera snapped.

"You said that the Medici have a corporate front, right? Then if that's so, we can just go there on a 'tour'. When we reach the highest floor that they'll let us get to, we can take the staircase from there to the top."

Tsuna felt sweaty just thinking about hiking the stairs. "That's…better, I guess."

Gokudera sighed, "Then we'll need disguises."

"Not a problem, I packed some with me on the trip," Yuki answered. Here eyes still reflected cool fire and animosity, which only made Gokudera feel more annoyance.

He clicked his tongue in disgust, "Fine, we'll go with Yuki-san's idea instead. But, we're still invading in two days, so get ready!"

"Yes, sir!" Everyone saluted, with the exception of Yuki and Hibari. Then, everyone began leaving the room with the exception of Chrome, who had sat quietly in her seat the whole meeting. When only she and Gokudera were left, she got up and walked over to the Storm Guardian.

"Um, Mr. Gokudera," Chrome mumbled.

"What do you want?" Gokudera growled. The dark-haired teen cringed. At the sight of her slight withdrawal, the silver-haired teen softened up his countenance a little. "What is it?"

Chrome took a small bullet from her pocket and presented it to Gokudera. "Professor Boreen wanted me to give this to you…"

Gokudera picked up the bullet and examined it. "If it's from the professor, then it must be pretty important. Thanks, woman," the Storm Guardian hollered as he left the room with his rejected plan.

"Why a bullet?" Gokudera mumbled to himself as he headed up the staircase.

* * *

(Later that Evening)

"Gokudera."

The Storm Guardian looked towards the doorway, smiling at his visitor. "Yes, Tenth?"

Tsuna smiled, "Even though the invasion is in two days, try and get some more rest. You haven't been getting enough sleep lately because you've been so busy with learning about the Medici. I don't want something bad to happen to you."

Gokudera smiled, "Don't worry, Tenth, I won't let you down. But you should get some sleep, too, you look exhausted."

"Alright, see you tomorrow morning. Good night."

"Good night, Tenth," Gokudera yelled after Tsuna as the shorter teen left the door frame. Then, he turned back to what lay atop of his desk.

* * *

Yuki stared up at the ceiling, vision piercing through the darkness as she lay—awaiting sleep to wisp her away from physical reality to her past. After remaining still for another five minutes, she swung her feet over the edge of the bed and walked out onto the balcony, looking up at the moon. It was no longer full, and was missing a segment that made it complete. "Giotto…"

The Snow Guardian turned her head at the sound of rustling from the bedroom. She hurried back into the shared room and found Chrome shifting in her sleep. The young girl's face was creased in torment and droplets of cold sweat escaped her pores. "M-Master Mukuro," she muttered. Beads of salt water escaped her closed lids. Her voice trembled and her body was curled up in pain.

* * *

"_Chrome…Chrome!"_

_The Mist Guardian opened her eye to the sound of her master's voice. She was surrounded by darkness, but could hear an alarm blaring in the background and the small pants of breath coming from her savior._

"_M-Master Mukuro, where are you? What's wrong?"_

"_Ku fu fu," he chuckled an answer weakly, "It would seem…that my game of hide-and-seek is truly over now."_

"_Master Mukuro!" Chrome's face twisted in agony._

"_Before I leave you again, I will let you see what's happening in my eyes."_

_Chrome gulped then nodded, "Y-Yes, Sir…"_

_A bright flash of light forced Chrome to cover her eyes. When she removed her arm, she was next to her Master—who was out of breath—in a theater seat. They were staring at a projector screen. Chrome looked over at her Master, but could only look. She couldn't touch him. She couldn't tend to his wounds—she couldn't fix him All she could do was watch._

"_My cute Chrome…I don't have much time left. Please look at the screen…" he panted. Gradually, she took her eyes off her master and looked at the screen._

_Bam! The door leading to Mukuro's hiding spot was kicked down onto the floor. Nearly silent steps reverberated through the metal-encased storage room. "I know you're in here, Rokudou Mukuro."_

_A man with fiery-red hair stopped in the middle of the room. A clone appeared in front of the Medici heir. "Ku fu fu fu, now that's no fun if you just go and blurt out a silly line like that. This isn't a drama, Mr. Romulus Medici." The door was pulled back up behind the two and they were encased in darkness._

"_If you're locking the both of us up in here, then you must have a death wish. I'm not afraid of the dark and certainly not afraid of some two-bit teenage magician."_

"_Oh?" Mukuro's clone smiled. "Well then, that's a relief that you trust the darkness so much. But, don't you know? 'When a man is drowning, he will even grasp at straw.' That means, when a human is surrounded by something unfamiliar—whether or not they trust the unfamiliar setting—they must rely on any ounce of reality they can perceive. In this case, the only reality of this room: is my illusions!"_

_The darkness gave birth to a monster, whose eyes glared down at the "intruder" of the illusionist's realm._

"_I'm sorry to inform you that I don't believe in ghost stories, Rokudou Mukuro," Romulus muttered in face of the colossal beast in front of him._

"_Ku ha ha ha! Is that so?" Mukuro laughed, "Then I'm sorry to inform you that this 'ghost story' is real." Claws jutted out of the creature in front of Romulus and forced the Medici man to the floor._

"_I don't have time to waste playing with you anymore. This game of hide-and-seek is over. I've found _you_, Rokudou Mukuro," Romulus stated, aggravated. His gun was aimed at the real Mukuro. He released the safeguard with a finger on the trigger. Then—_

* * *

"No!" Tsuna shot out of his bed—eyes wide, ears ringing, head aching.

"Tenth!" Tsuna's silver-haired Storm Guardian raced over to his boss's bedside. "Tenth, is everything alright? What's wrong? What happened? Are you alright?"

Yamamoto sat up in his bead and stared at the shocked brunette, "Tsuna?"

"Did you have an extreme nightmare or something, Sawada?" Ryohei asked, who had also woken up.

Gokudera put a worried hand on Tsuna's shoulder, "Tenth?"

Tsuna snapped back to reality at hearing his nickname. "Oh, sorry, it was just a nightmare," Tsuna smiled nervously. "I'll be fine, don't worry."

"You sure?" Gokudera questioned, worry still plastered to his face.

Tsuna nodded, "Yeah, I'll just go get a glass of warm milk and come back up later."

"Alright, then, good night," Gokudera called after him as he left. Gokudera turned to the other two guardians. All three reflected the same anxiety.

* * *

Yuki sat down next to Chrome and pressed a hand against the girl's forehead. The younger's face, which had been hot from squirming in her nightmare began to cool and the intensity of the pain seemed to ebb away. Yuki stared at the Tenth generation Mist Guardian.

"You're different than Daemon Spade…" she whispered. She bent over and kissed Chrome's forehead, "Sleep peacefully."

Then, Yuki sat up and headed for the door. As she left the room, she bumped into Tsuna. "Tuna, what are you doing up?"

"Oh, Yuki-san, you're still up, too?" Tsuna smiled awkwardly. His exhaustion and worry showed. "I couldn't sleep," he explained as his smile faded. "I had a nightmare."

"You, too?" Yuki mumbled.

Tsuna looked up at her, "What? Did you have one, too?"

She shook her head, "No, but Chrome did…" The dots connected together within her head and she looked down at Tsuna with a serious stare, "Was it about that girl's master?"

The brunette bit his lip.

"You have to tell me, as your guardian, I demand that you do. This is for your safety."

"Mukuro was facing against Romulus by himself, but he failed to escape and was shot instead. I don't know where he was shot, but he was. I'm scared. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. And then Reborn's not here either—it's not like I'm afraid he's hurt, I know he couldn't be—but I'm just so scared. I don't know what to do," Tsuna bent his head over as tears welled up, ready to burst.

Yuki knelt down so that their eyes were level with one another. Then, she wiped away the tears at the corner of his eyes. "Don't worry. If you're anything like I expect you to be, you'll be able to get through this. You and Giotto may not be the same person, but your resolution and his are so similar that I know you have the potential to be a great boss."

Tsuna sniffled. "Thank you, Yuki-san," he hiccupped.

* * *

(Arcobaleno Meeting, Forest Cabin)

"Well then, as you all know, recently there has been a new addition among the Tenth Generation Vongola's Guardians: currently known by the name Sanada Yuki."

"Yes, yes, we all know that much at least. So can you get to your point already, Ms. Aria?"

Reborn stared at the green-haired baby sitting across the table from him. The sun baby's countenance didn't change, but the murderous intent that hung in the air was noticeable by all.

"Mr. Reborn, please don't let such a deadly aura escape from you."

"You don't need to 'protect' me, Fong. Even if Reborn were to attack me right now, I would remain unscathed. After all, this is a sanctioned meeting. If he were to get out of line, then the whole Arcobaleno balance would be broken. Then again, it would be so out of character for the Greatest Hitman to act irrationally."

"Now, now, would you all just shut up? Time is money, and I'm wasting a valuable amount of both with every second I have to listen to you all bicker."

Aria watched, smiling as almost everyone began talking over one another.

"You're not going to stop them, Aria?" Reborn questioned.

Luche's daughter shook her head, "No. I've never seen so many talking babies together at one time before; I've only heard stories from my mother. It's very interesting: this world of Arcobaleno."

Reborn smiled a bit, tipping his fedora. "'Like mother, like daughter'. You both have wonderful smiles."

Aria smiled down at the tiny hitman, whispering, "Our smiles aren't the only thing that makes us similar to one another." She stood up and slammed her hands on the desk, face hard and serious. "Alright everyone, if you want to go home so badly, then we'll need to get through this meeting first! Understood?"

"Hey! Now we're talking!" the rain baby smiled. "So what's the news about the Snow Guardian lady? Hey, Reborn, care to explain a little? She is one of your student's guardians!"

"I don't know much about the 'Snow Guardian' myself," Reborn answered. "But, from what I've heard from her and from what I know of Vongola's history, everything she says matches up perfectly—with the exception of her existence."

"And that's what we've come here to discuss," Aria continued.

"What do you mean by that, Ma'am? Are we talking about how the historical records are inaccurate or the Guardian herself?"

Aria turned to the Chinese Arcobaleno, who had just spoken, "We're talking about her existence. It's plain as day: she shouldn't be here. She doesn't exist. There is no 'Sanada Yuki' alive during the reign of Vongola _Primo_'s vigilante group turned Mafia. The closest thing related to the name 'Sanada Yuki' is 'Sanada _Yukimura_'. The closest thing related to a _Guardiano di Neve_ is the myth of '_Yuki no Shugosha_', which wouldn't quite fit the bill in this case."

"Even if there is no Snow Guardian, what 'Sanada Yuki' says is genuine. If it weren't, Silly Tsuna would have picked up on it immediately," Reborn wondered aloud.

"That's true, unless she herself did not know she wasn't supposed to exist," Aria rebutted. "_The icy blanket that covers the Vongola's tracks_ does not exist. It is not even supposed to exist."

"That doesn't explain why she has a ring though. And it's a real Mafia ring. I've seen it work before."

"It's easy to duplicate such a simple design for the Vongola's rings," Verde commented. "A shield, a band, and a few modifications: that's all that's truly needed to construct one."

The hooded Arcobaleno agreed, "Verde's right. Though the ring's material is expensive, it is still possible. The Varia recently ordered a shipment of the ring's material to make rings of a similar pattern for Xanxus and his 'guardians'—myself included. Of course, I was left to do all the accounting. We spent a lot of money on the material, but that's because it's so rare. There's only one company that openly sells the metal to the Mafia—no matter which Family be the buyer."

"Hey! Then where did you buy it, Viper?"

"The Varia purchased the material via the Medici Family."

Reborn hopped down from his seat and rushed to the door.

"Hey! Reborn! Where are you going?"

The hitman stopped at the doorway. "Colonello. If what Viper said is true, then Tsuna and his friends are going to be in a lot of trouble very soon. I need to tell the Ninth. Skull, I'm taking your blimp."

"R-Reborn-Sempai? W-Why me?"

"Hmm, yes. It would be much too slow to travel by blimp," Verde smiled, leaning back into his chair. He pulled a remote control out from beneath the table and hit the red button on the center of the rectangular device. The ceiling of the room slid apart and the babies grew silent as they heard an incoming whistle. In seconds, a black jet appeared over the cabin of the gathered Arcobaleno, effectively blocking out the moonlight. "I meant to keep this for myself, but seeing as to how this is an urgent matter and Ms. Aria would force me to otherwise bring out my latest invention, I've decided to transport you to Vongola's headquarters."

* * *

_By the way, thank you all for continuing your faithful[?] patronage. I really enjoy reading the comments or reviews I get [most of the time. Other times I want to kill something (like D. Spade)]. Please continue to show me your support in the future as well._

_The next chapter may also take quite a bit of time to write, but only because I haven't written in a long time, so I'm sort of reconsidering how the story is going to progress up to the ending._

_Thanks for your time and patience and I hope that you guys enjoyed this release!_

_[P.S. If you aren't annoyed yet by this comment: I REALLY LUV UR GUYZ' REVIEWS; THEY MAKE ME SO HAPPY AND BOOST MY MORALE AND I LUV YOU GUYS!]_

_~Love you all! X3_


	13. Chapter 13: The Day before the Invasion

_Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Unfortunately…_

_[Otherwise I probably would have gotten rid of the Shimon Family arc…Yeah, definitely would. The weapons and rings just upgraded way too fast there, man!]_

_By the way, what happened to the Inheritance Ceremony then? Can Tsuna not do it now because they don't have the "sin" anymore?_

_Anyway, enjoy the long awaited chapter, everyone! ^^_

_Oh, and Happy Birthday, Xanxus-sama!_

* * *

_**The Day before the Invasion**_

"Sasagawa Ryohei?" Gokudera called out the name in monotone.

"Here and ready to the extreme!"

The bomber bit his lip and then took in a deep breath, ignoring the older jock's annoyingly loud trademark. "Sanada Yuki-san?"

"Ready," the woman answered at the sound of her name.

"Chrome Dokuro?"

"Yes," she nodded, clutching at her trident tightly.

"Hibari—" Gokudera stopped as he was about to say the prefect's full name. "Er, Hibari-san?" He looked up at the group of faces gathered in front of him. Yuki was against a wall polishing her gun. Chrome was waiting with a red blush across her face with her weapon in both hands. Ryohei was eagerly awaiting departure close to the door and was jabbing his fists into the air, hitting nothing tangible. Yamamoto was smiling at the silver-haired teen—or into the distance. Even the youngest of Tsuna's guardians, Lambo was present. Gokudera grumbled, "Why did I even bother trying to _not_ say his first name if he isn't here?" He sighed then read the next name on his roster aloud. "Lambo Bonvino."

"Aho-dera, why are you calling my name when you know I'm here already?" the small child laughed. Then he commenced to jumping up and down like any excited toddler.

Gokudera swallowed back his rage reluctantly, reminding himself that his actions were all for the Tenth. "Yamamoto Takeshi?"

"Here, Gokudera!" the baseball player sang.

The silver-haired teen breathed in relief to Yamamoto's almost too normal response to roll call. "That makes everyone except for the Tenth," Gokudera mumbled to himself, examining the roster.

"Gokudera! Everyone!"

The Vongola Tenth Generation Guardians turned to the boss-to-be as he hurried down the staircase, stopping at Gokudera's side. "Sorry I'm late, I was talking with Dino. He's going to stay behind to watch for Reborn's return." Tsuna looked up at the faces of his friends and grinned; they all responded with their own smiles.

The brunette extended an arm and everyone that had gathered followed suit, until all hands were at the center.

"Vongola, fight!" Tsuna cheered. Yamamoto, Ryohei, Lambo, and Gokudera echoed the chant the loudest while Chrome meekly added her own voice. Yuki couldn't help but smile at their laughter even with the dangerous mission ahead of them.

* * *

(Mach Jet, 300 miles to Vongola Headquarters)

"W-Why is it going so fast?" Skull practically yelled as he watched the scene pass by from his seat.

"It's a jet; what did you expect?" Verde's voice asked from a screen situated in front of the chairs set up for the Arcobaleno. "Then again, what did I expect to hear from a loud, reckless idiot such as yourself?"

The daredevil snapped, standing to walk up to the screen. "Why I oughta—"

"Don't get up," Reborn ordered. Skull cringed at the command, looking at the baby that sat across the aisle from him. "We're almost to Vongola Headquarters right now."

The purple Arcobaleno looked around the cabin. Fong was meditating behind him, Marmon was sleeping, and Colonello was looking out the window at the forests of Italy. He gulped, having enough courage—and quite possibly idiocy—to stutter a retort. "B-But…"

Reborn shot Skull a glare and he instantly obeyed, attempting to remain perfectly still in his seat.

"We probably won't be able to land on the rooftop, so you'll need to jump out yourself, Reborn," Verde explained. "I haven't put in a good braking system yet, so you'll need to time yourself. Of course, this should prove to be no challenge for the world's greatest hitman."

"I knew there must have been some catch," Reborn thought aloud, looking up at the digital Verde.

The scientist smirked, "There's a parachute under your chair." He turned away from the screen, examining a map of the area. "I suggest you hurry. We're already over the headquarters. If you don't leave now, you'll miss your stop."

When the Arcobaleno returned his attention to Reborn's seat, he was gone, and the door to the jet had been opened, creating a wind tunnel that effectively woke Marmon up.

The scientist clicked his tongue in disgust. "He didn't even take the faulty parachute," he muttered. "What a boring man you are, Reborn."

* * *

The Sun Arcobaleno let his small body fall towards the roof of Vongola Headquarters. It wasn't until he had dropped at least 100 feet that he deployed his green shape-shifting companion as a parachute, enjoying—for the most part—a relaxing decline into familiar territory. As he landed on the concrete roof, he was greeted by several grunt members, who were all baffled by Reborn's sudden appearance.

"M-Mr. Reborn? You're in Italy? Since when? For how much longer?" One of the more prominent hunchmen questioned.

"That doesn't matter right now," the baby answered as he started heading for the staircase to the lower levels. "I need to see the Ninth. Immediately."

"The Ninth is out right now. He won't be back until later tonight!"

"This matter is of the utmost urgency, where is he right now?" Reborn questioned, expecting an immediate response. When none came, Leon instantly changed into a gun and filled the empty space between Reborn's fingers meant for the weapon.

"W-We don't know," the men answered in unison. "Last we heard, the Ninth was with his son."

Reborn's expression softened slightly. Only slightly. "Xanxus? Why?"

"We don't know, but someone heard Xanxus yelling about a 'stupid trash fish' when he was in the Ninth's room. No one knows where either are right now."

"Did you guys try calling them?"

All of them were silent. The talkative one averted Reborn's gaze.

The baby hitman's head lowered, creating a dark shadow over his eyes. "You mean to tell me that you all just kept wasting my time by spouting 'we don't know where they are', when you hadn't even tried to call them?"

"Don't get mad at them, Reborn."

Everyone turned to the rooftop entrance. A rugged blonde was leaning against the frame. Behind him was a blonde woman with glasses and a hazel-haired boy, who looked about the same age as Tsuna. A baby with a grey pacifier was next to the figure's feet.

"Iemitsu, Lal, what is CEDEF doing here?" Reborn asked. Only a remnant of his previous anger remained, but it was undetectable in his question.

"We came for a meeting with the Ninth to discuss recent happenings and report the results on some missions; same old, same old. We just finished and were just about to leave. You seem a little off today, something happen? And where's Tsuna?"

"They're at Dino's," Reborn replied. "Honestly, aren't you in the special forces? Shouldn't you at least be able to know where your son is?"

Iemitsu laughed as he approached the infant with the others following. "I guess that's another trait that makes me a failure as a father."

"Sawada-dono is in Italy? Where? I must speak with him at once!" Basil smiled excitedly.

Iemitsu smiled at the boy's reaction. "Tsuna has the power to touch everyone's heart." He turned back to Reborn, "Anyway, why aren't you with Tsuna right now?"

Reborn grew silent. Debating which words he should use. "I was in a meeting for the Arcobaleno," he answered. "We needed to discuss an issue concerning the appearance of a Snow Guardian. And not just any Snow Guardian, but supposedly Primo's."

Shock and confusion constructed the grown man's face. He whispered, "A Snow Guardian? I thought it was just a myth. And if that person fought with Primo, it would make them hundreds of years old. They shouldn't even be alive."

Reborn nodded. He looked back at the people still on the roof. They were a ways back, but Iemitsu could get loud. "This isn't the place to talk about it."

Iemitsu glanced up. "Yeah, you're right. Come, we can check to see if Xanxus has left yet and if he has, we can share this with the Ninth as well."

Reborn agreed and Iemitsu turned back for the door with his train. The baby who had been next to the blonde man before took the end, walking alongside Reborn.

"So the Arcobaleno held a meeting."

"Yes," Reborn responded. Predicting the next question she'd ask, he then replied, "Colonello was there, loud as usual."

Lal Mirch blushed. "I didn't say anything about Colonello."

Reborn was quiet, watching the failed baby's reactions.

"But, thanks for telling me anyway. He's still my student even if he's surpassed me. If he's healthy, then that's good."

Reborn smirked. "Why don't you just admit your own feelings for him already, Lal?"

She turned two shades darker and snapped. "I-It's not like that, Reborn! I just told you! He's still a student to me, even now. I only care about him as his tutor! Just as his tutor!"

"He might be sad to hear you say that," Reborn smiled. "Or, he would still just be as idiotically happy. After all, he probably knows just as well as you or me what your real feelings are. It's only you that hasn't accepted it."

Lal Mirch, knowing she wouldn't win in an argument against Reborn, sighed. "Things are still too hectic, Reborn. I don't think I could have time to be with him. And the mafia is a dangerous place. Too dangerous for me or him to waste time playing around like foolish teenagers."

"Spoken like a foolish teenager that doesn't understand love."

"Even if it's you, I won't take being made fun of lightly," she muttered. Reborn smirked at the unlikely idea that she would actually _attempt_ to physically exact her vengeance.

Then the group came to a stop in front of a large pair of oak doors. Iemitsu knocked the back of his hand on one of the wooden slabs. Then he twisted the knob so that his voice could reach the room. "Ninth, I've come back with Reborn. He has some important news."

"Come inside, Iemitsu."

"Yes, sir," he responded habitually before pushing the doors open. There were giant holes throughout the office and two of the three windows were shattered. He looked at the damage with minimal shock. The Ninth leader of the Vongola was unharmed despite the looks of the room. "Sir, is Xanxus still…"

"He already left. Squalo came to take him to an inheritance ceremony in China for the BaYuan Long family. Most of this damage actually came from those two fighting," he answered as if it were a normal situation that the CEDEF and Reborn could relate to.

"So, what's the important news?" the Ninth asked as he sat down in his chair.

"The existence of a Snow Guardian," Iemitsu answered.

The Ninth's face hardened. "Explain."

Reborn told the Ninth what he had learned at the Arcobaleno Meeting, and told him that Tsuna and the 'Snow Guardian' were in Italy. "And I think it's even worse of a situation than we could imagine."

"And what could make this occurrence even more messier?" he asked the infant.

"It's my speculation, but after what happened in Japan, I couldn't be anymore sure," Reborn answered, "The Medici are trying to create a weapon using the 'Snow Guardian'. I believe Tsuna could be in danger."

* * *

(Medici Labs Headquarter, Executive Office)

Romulus entered the room. As he reclined in his leather chair, the door slammed shut. "How could one teenager be so annoying?" he muttered, closing his eyes. He hoped to salvage some form of rest before he had to supervise the day's experimentations.

_Knock-knock._

The fiery-haired boss's eyes shot open. "Come in," he announced toward the ceiling. One subordinate, in a lab coat opened the door and walked in.

The short man cleared his throat, "Excuse me, Mr. Medici, the Bioweaponry Department has some exciting news to share with you."

Romulus sat up at the unit name, staring at the blond in front of him. "Go on," he ordered. It was the first _good_ piece of news he had heard all day, next to the illusionist being caught.

"We were able to put in the finishing touches on the new weapon you wanted to create using the parts of melted ice we cultivated from what used to hold Test Subject 0-G24. Currently, the Bioweaponry Departments is awaiting your permission and supervision to start conducting tests."

The man smiled inwardly, then glanced at his clock. "I'll be there soon. But I need to prepare to deal with the tourists soon."

"Understood, sir. I'll be taking my leave then," he bowed before he left. The door clicked closed.

Romulus rose from his chair and turned to the window behind him. A smirk played his lips and he began to laugh. "Perfect."

* * *

(Cavallone Mansion, Foyer)

"Alright, so does everyone understand the plan _this_ time?" the half-Italian teen asked.

Yamamoto nodded, "I think I got it down. Thanks for the explanation, Gokudera."

Green eyes flickered to the older jock of the team. "And you, Lawn-Hair?"

"I've memorized it the extreme now! So what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Ryohei yelled. "Isn't that why we did role call earlier today?"

"That was rehearsal," Gokudera answered bluntly. "Besides, tomorrow we won't be bringing the Stupid Cow. He would just put the mission in jeopardy."

"Lambo wants to go tomorrow, too! Lambo can fight! Stupid, mean Aho-dera!" the small cow-print dressed baby wailed.

Gokudera groaned, sliding a hand down his face. "You can't go, got it?"

"Lambo wants to go!"

Tsuna laughed awkwardly, watching as Gokudera and Lambo continued to argue. He figured he probably wouldn't get enough sleep. Again.

When the teenager realized the two wouldn't stop for another ten minutes, he walked over to them. "Hey, Lambo. Tomorrow is not going to be very fun for everybody. So you should stay with Miss Smith instead. I'm sure you two can have fun together. I heard Miss Smith was planning on taking you to _gelato_ tomorrow."

Lambo stopped crying almost immediately and pretended to think over the choices, although he had already picked the creamy treat over the mission. "The Great Lambo will let you stupid people go and not have fun and take all the _gelato_ then."

Tsuna smiled. "Just don't get a tummy ache then, okay?"

"The Great Lambo never gets a tummy ache!" the baby cackled. Tsuna laughed at the toddler.

Blue and white orbs stared at the lively scene in front of them. A small smile appeared below them.

"Tsuna really gets along well with everyone. Don't you agree?"

Black hair turned at the sound of the voice of the blond Mafioso.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," he smiled. "But, you think so, too, right?"

The woman nodded, "Of course. It's that trait among others that makes him have great potential as the boss of the Vongola."

"I'm glad you agree," the blond shrugged his shoulders, chuckling softly. He looked outside the window. The sunset created a beautiful medley of colors in the sky that would even challenge a rainbow. "It's starting to get darker now. You should try to get more sleep tonight."

"Thank you for your concern," she smiled as she headed toward the staircase.

"Don't you want to have dinner first?"

She stopped mid-step. "I'd get too anxious with a meal in my stomach," she answered. "I think it'd be better if I went to bed now."

"Alright then. I'll see you guys off tomorrow," he smiled. "Good night."

She nodded back in response before continuing to her bed, where she lay upon, staring up at the ceiling. Slowly, her lids began to cover her eyes, and she fell asleep.

* * *

"_Yuki, it's okay."_

_The small girl felt warm arms wrap around her shoulder and back. She felt the tears that streamed down her cheeks begin to stop. The arms tightened slightly in their grip around her._

"_Just remember, I'll always be there for you. So even if this is the last time we'll get to see each other, I'll always think about you no matter what happens. But, if you ever look for me, I'll be in our secret place, waiting for you with star cosmos."_

_The girl let out a wail. "G-Giotto!"_

_A gentle hand shifted from her back to her head, patting it softly. "It's okay, Yuki. It's okay. I'll always be there to protect you, even centuries later when we meet in a different life as different people. Please don't worry. I know everything will work out fine. It'll be tough, but I know you'll be able to pull through."_

_Her hands tensed and she began to tremble slightly in the blond boy's arms. "T-Thank you, Giotto. It's just not fair."_

"_It's okay, Yuki. We'll meet again, I promise."_

"_I'm sorry," she sniffled._

"_Don't be." He hugged her tightly._

"_I'm sorry I can't stay," she murmured into his shoulder. Even quieter, she whispered, "No, I'm sorry that I'm being unfair and leaving first."_

_He cleared away her bangs and touched foreheads with her. "You'll always be in my heart and in my mind; you're a precious friend to me. And, I will always be your guardian—'Yuki no Shugosha'."_

_Her body stopped shivering, "Thank you, Giotto." She kissed his cheek. "Ciao."_

_The blond boy smiled, "Ciao."_

* * *

_Translations:_

_Gelato-Italian frozen dairy treat; it's much sweeter and creamier than the average everyday ice-cream._

"_Yuki no Shugosha"-In the context being used, it means "Yuki's Guardian", but it can also be translated as "Snow Guardian"._

_Ciao-means "good-bye" as well as "hello" in Italian. The way the boy at the end of the chapter uses "Ciao" is a way of saying: "We'll meet again"._

_Thanks for reading, everybody! You've made me happy! I only found some time to write every once in a while because I'm working on college applications. __

_And now I have to work on my portfolio… =3=_

_Again, thanks for waiting and reading and __**reviews**__. I really do enjoy them all and keep every single review I get in my email. :]_

_~luv you all! X3_


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